encounter

1 of 2

verb

en·coun·ter in-ˈkau̇n-tər

en-

encountered; encountering in-ˈkau̇n-t(ə-)riŋ

en-

Synonyms of encounter next

transitive verb

: to meet as an adversary or enemy

: to engage in conflict with

: to come upon face-to-face

: to come upon or experience especially unexpectedly

encounter difficulties

intransitive verb

: to meet especially by chance

encounter

2 of 2

noun

: a meeting between hostile factions or persons : a sudden often violent clash

an encounter between the police and demonstrators

: a chance meeting

an accidental encounter

: a particular kind of meeting or experience with another person

a romantic encounter

: a coming into the vicinity of a celestial body

the Martian encounter of a spacecraft

Example Sentences

Verb 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. Noun a chance encounter with a famous writer The tour boat had a close encounter with a breeching humpback whale. There was a violent encounter between fans of the opposing teams. It was her first encounter with cigarettes. See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Last year local champion Wesley encountered Joe Eurell, a battler with cerebral palsy. —

Julie Seabaugh, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2023 Drivers in the Boston area — and across the United States — have encountered streetscapes bathed in purple in recent years. —

Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 1 June 2023 But pregnant athletes have encountered attitudes ranging from ambivalent to outright hostile from leagues, coaches, fellow players and sponsors throughout the years. —

Anna Furman, Chicago Tribune, 31 May 2023 Will Power - The 2018 winner encountered problems late in the race and never rebounded. 24. —

Rob Peeters, The Indianapolis Star, 28 May 2023 Unfortunately, tourists tend to break the rules to get that perfect selfie or otherwise encounter wildlife. —

Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY, 24 May 2023 Agents have encountered over 10,000 migrants a day across multiple days. —

Houston Keene, Fox News, 24 May 2023 Microsoft added native support for .zip files—then and now, the most common type of compressed archive—to Windows Me back in the year 2000, though most people encountered it in 2001's Windows XP. —

Andrew Cunningham, Ars Technica, 24 May 2023 Jupiters could form far out, but then encounter other planets that change the gas giants’ orbits. —

Briley Lewis, Popular Science, 24 May 2023

Noun

Hope Coleman, who was present during the encounter, has denied that her son ever produced a knife. —

Laura Crimaldi, BostonGlobe.com, 3 June 2023 Migrant encounters actually dropped in half the week after the restriction was lifted. —

The Arizona Republic, 1 June 2023 Those tensions were highlighted May 26 when a Chinese fighter jet had a dangerous encounter with a U.S. spy plane flying over international waters in the South China Sea, according to the Pentagon's Indo-Pacific Command. —

Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, 31 May 2023 The man was charged with assaulting two police officers in the encounter. —

Cassidy Jensen, Baltimore Sun, 30 May 2023 Subsequent court filings and testimony instead revealed a murkier, more confused encounter. —

Ken Bensinger, New York Times, 29 May 2023 After a near-death encounter with the handsome Prince Eric, Ariel makes a deal with Ursula the sea witch, temporarily giving up her beautiful voice in exchange for the chance to become human and win over her one true love on land. —

Ineye Komonibo, refinery29.com, 28 May 2023 The encounters have plummeted to 3,000 in recent days. —

Alfredo Corchado, Dallas News, 26 May 2023 Whatever the cause, the ramming incidents have been serious enough to cause Spanish officials to already twice temporarily ban small boats in areas where frequent orca encounters were reported. —

Steven Hill, Field & Stream, 25 May 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'encounter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

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

First Known Use

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of encounter was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century