encounter
English
Alternative forms
- encountre (obsolete)
- incounter (archaic)
- incountre (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English encountren, from rom Anglo-Norman encountrer, Old French encontrer (“to confront”), from encontre (“against, counter to”), from Late Latin incontrā (“in front of”) itself from Latin in (“in”) + contrā (“against”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɪnˈkaʊntɚ/, /ɪŋˈkaʊntɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪnˈkaʊntə/, /ɪŋˈkaʊntə/
- Hyphenation: en‧coun‧ter
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aʊntə(ɹ)
Verb
encounter (third-person singular simple present encounters, present participle encountering, simple past and past participle encountered)
- (transitive) To meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.
- (transitive) To confront (someone or something) face to face.
- (transitive, intransitive) To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
- Three armies encountered at Waterloo.
- Shakespeare
- I will encounter with Andronicus.
Translations
meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly
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confront (someone or something)
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engage in conflict
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Noun
encounter (plural encounters)
- An unplanned or unexpected meeting.
- Their encounter was a matter of chance.
- 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326:
- That was Selwyn's first encounter with the Ruthvens. A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable débutante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.
- A hostile meeting; a confrontation or skirmish.
- A sudden, often violent clash, as between combatants.
- (sports) A match between two opposing sides.
- 2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport:
- Andre Santos equalised and the outstanding Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead for the first time before Juan Mata's spectacular strike set up the finale for an enthralling encounter.
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Synonyms
- (unplanned meeting):
- (hostile meeting): clash, confrontation, brush, skirmish
Derived terms
Translations
unplanned meeting
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hostile meeting
sudden, often violent clash
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Anagrams
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