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en·coun·ter | \ in-ˈkau̇n-tər 
, en- \
, en- \encountered; encountering\ in-ˈkau̇n-t(ə-)riŋ , en- \
, en- \Definition of encounter
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : 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
: to meet especially by chance
encounter
nounDefinition of encounter (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : a meeting between hostile factions or persons : a sudden often violent clash
an encounter between the police and demonstrators
2a : a chance meeting
an accidental encounter
b : a particular kind of meeting or experience with another person
a romantic encounter
3 : a coming into the vicinity of a celestial body
the Martian encounter of a spacecraft
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Examples of encounter in a Sentence
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
He's accused of having had sexual encounters with several young women.
There was a violent encounter between fans of the opposing teams.
It was her first encounter with cigarettes.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Walking outdoors, changing one’s routine, encountering art—doing almost anything outside of your routine can help kickstart the creative process.
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Michelle Cheng, Quartz at Work, "Smart gift ideas for busy professionals," 29 Nov. 2019 Instagram wrote on Twitter at 10:41 a.m. As more people encountered technical difficulties refreshing their feeds, the hashtag #InstagramDown began trending on Twitter, where clever tweets poured in as folks made light of the service outages.
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Benjamin Vanhoose, PEOPLE.com, "Instagram & Facebook Outages Prompt Social Media Users to Hilariously Freak Out on Thanksgiving," 28 Nov. 2019 Horrendous situation led to founding Angels on Patrol was inspired by a grisly scene Jacqui MacConnell encountered 16 years ago as a Phoenix police sergeant.
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Mary Jo Pitzl, Arizona Republic, "When police officers need quick help for people in distress, this Phoenix charity answers the call," 24 Nov. 2019 In the story that many generations of Americans grew up hearing, there were no Wampanoags until the Pilgrims encountered them.
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Philip Deloria, The New Yorker, "The Invention of Thanksgiving," 18 Nov. 2019 Police frequently encounter people with psychiatric disabilities when someone calls 911 about a person acting unusually in public.
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Jennifer Sarrett, The Conversation, "To stop police shootings of people with mental health disabilities, I asked them what cops – and everyone – could do to help," 12 Nov. 2019 The challenges and opportunities these leaders will encounter in 10 to 20 years are impossible to anticipate.
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Robert Lechler, STAT, "New leaders needed to translate discoveries into patient care," 18 Oct. 2019 As melting ice drives rising seas, coastal communities including San Diego will encounter more frequent and severe flooding, scientists said.
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San Diego Union-Tribune, "Report: San Diego has unique edge to tackle climate change," 7 Oct. 2019 The delays stem from the difficulty the World Health Organization encountered this year in identifying the changing strains in the 2019-2020 influenza virus.
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Robert Weisman — Boston Globe, STAT, "Seniors clamor for high-dose flu shot, but it’s not always easy to find," 28 Oct. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Goodall’s first recorded encounter with a chimp goes way back — before the conservationist could even walk.
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Washington Post, "Don’t miss these five displays at the National Geographic’s Jane Goodall exhibition," 4 Dec. 2019 The misunderstandings can lead to frightening encounters.
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BostonGlobe.com, "In the nearly two years since New York state began widely authorizing farmers to grow hemp, farmers like Rogers have had to go to unusual lengths to protect their crops because so many people — from thieves to law enforcement officials — mistake hemp for marijuana.," 4 Dec. 2019 Trump wrote to me when the story appeared), but this encounter ranked near the top as a blend of raucous entertainment and an up-close view of an authentic legend.
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Rachel Schallom, Fortune, "Fortune’s Most Memorable Interviews This Decade," 3 Dec. 2019 Some stray encounters en route to this one are more lifelike than others; Slim’s scene with a dead-eyed convenience store clerk, for example, is pure contrivance.
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Tribune News Service, cleveland, "‘Queen & Slim’: A first date, a police shooting and a road movie for today (movie review)," 27 Nov. 2019 Slim strives to be respectful throughout the encounter; Queen knows what his rights are and tries to assert them, though the cop is having none of it.
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Stephanie Zacharek, Time, "Queen & Slim Is a Romantic Odyssey Marked By Euphoria and Tragedy," 27 Nov. 2019 Earlier this month, Popular Mechanics published a story about several other military personnel who also witnessed the Nimitz encounter on their radar systems and over their ship’s video system.
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Mj Banias, Popular Mechanics, "Ufology: From Fringe Field to Serious Science," 22 Nov. 2019 The idea was simple: post funny content about the bizarre things one encounters while living in Miami.
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Andrew Boryga, sun-sentinel.com, "ONLY in DADE showcases a ‘raw and uncut’ Miami," 21 Nov. 2019 Lifesaving measures were performed on Ruiz following the encounter, but were unsuccessful, the department said in a statement released Tuesday.
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Nicole Soto, azcentral, "Pima County inmate dead after 'use of force' by corrections officers," 19 Nov. 2019
See MoreThese 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.
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More Definitions for encounter
encounter
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of encounter
(Entry 1 of 2)
: to have or experience (problems, difficulties, etc.)
formal : to meet (someone) without expecting or intending to
encounter
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of encounter (Entry 2 of 2)
: a meeting that is not planned or expected
: a usually brief experience with another person
: a violent or very unfriendly meeting
See the full definition for encounter in the English Language Learners Dictionary
encounter
verben·coun·ter | \ in-ˈkau̇n-tər \
\encountered; encountering
Kids Definition of encounter
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : to meet face-to-face or by chance
I encountered an old friend.
2 : to experience or face often unexpectedly
Have you encountered any difficulty?
encounter
nounKids Definition of encounter (Entry 2 of 2)
1 : a meeting face-to-face and often by chance
2 : an often unexpected experience
It was his first encounter with fame.
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Time Traveler for encounter
The first known use of encounter was in the 14th century
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