encounter

verb en·coun·ter \ in-ˈkau̇n-tər , en- \

|Updated on: 8 Jun 2018

Examples: encounter in a Sentence

Definition of encounter

encountered; encountering play \in-ˈkau̇n-t(ə-)riŋ, en-\

transitive verb

1 a : to meet as an adversary or enemy

b : to engage in conflict with

2 : to come upon face-to-face

3 : to come upon or experience especially unexpectedly

encounter difficulties

intransitive verb

: to meet especially by chance

See encounter defined for English-language learners

See encounter defined for kids

Examples of encounter in a Sentence

We encountered problems early in the project.
The pilot told us that we might encounter turbulence during the flight.
Her suggestion has encountered a lot of opposition.

Recent Examples of encounter from the Web

Howell and Happy weren’t the only ones in North Carolina to encounter the lost dog bitcoin scam.

— carson kessler, Fortune, "Bitcoin Scammers Are Demanding Ransom for Lost Dogs," 25 May 2018
Beutner is hardly the first superintendent to encounter internal opposition.

— howard blume, latimes.com, "For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period," 24 May 2018
Shortly after the show started, the couple encountered some challenges in their personal lives.

— taysha murtaugh, Country Living, "Why Did Christina and Tarek El Moussa Get Divorced?," 23 May 2018
Facebook user James Ochoa, a Mexican American, claims to have encountered the Queen of all Beckys while working at a Las Vegas home.

— michael harriot, The Root, "Behold BeelzeBecky: White Woman Seen on Video Trying to Get Man Driving Through Her Neighborhood Killed," 21 May 2018
Montag’s simple life may be about to encounter a true moment of complexity.

— nathan mattise, Ars Technica, "A perfect time for Fahrenheit 451 remakes; HBO’s version falls short," 18 May 2018
Because Windows ML is an API, regular users will never encounter it.

— mark hachman, PCWorld, "How Microsoft's Windows ML machine learning could help apps anticipate your needs," 8 May 2018
To rush the construction of this team is to invite danger that doesn’t need to be encountered yet.

— gregg doyel, Indianapolis Star, "Doyel: The Pacers have something special but Kevin Pritchard faces a fragile offseason," 1 May 2018
Executive Pay The Anglo-Dutch consumer group Unilever will encounter significant investor opposition on executive pay at its May 2 annual general meeting, which could result in an embarrassing defeat for its new remuneration policy.

— david hellier, Bloomberg.com, "Activists to Take Center Stage as Annual Meetings Get Under Way," 24 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'encounter.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of encounter

Middle English encountren, from Anglo-French encuntrer, from Medieval Latin incontrare, from Late Latin incontra toward, from Latin in- + contra against — more at counter

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

See Words from the same year