encounter
Syllables: en·coun·terUK/ɪnˈkaʊntə//ɪnˈkaʊntɚ/
encounter verb: to meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly.
Verb
encounter (third-person singular simple present encounters, present participle encountering, simple past and past participle encountered)
- To meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly.
- It fits Ioues ſonne / VVraſtle vvith Lyons, and to tugge vvith Beares, / Grapple vvith Dragons, and incounter VVhales.1613, Thomas Heywood, The Silver Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Beniamin Lightfoote […], →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto
- H' incounters Talgol, routs the Bear, / And takes the Fidler Prisoner; / Conveys him to enchanted Castle, / There shuts him fast in wooden Bastile.1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678...
- Synonyms:
- cross paths
- To confront (someone or something) face to face.
- To meet one another.
- […] yet when the brother and the sister had encountered, according to the set appointment, none of these impassionedments had been repeated.1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities
- To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
- Three armies encountered at Waterloo.
- Techelles, and the reſt prepare your ſwordes:
I meane to incounter with that Baiazeth.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- To kill or execute someone extrajudicially.
- Speaking to the media, Reddy said, "He (Accused in 6-year-old rape and murder case) should be encountered. We will nab the accused and will encounter him. We will stand by the victim's family. We console them and will provide aid to the family. We will encounter him (the accused)."2021 September 15, “Telangana Minister says, rapist of six-year-old will be nabbed and killed in encounter”, in Catch News, retrieved 25 Feb 2023
Noun
encounter (plural encounters)
- A meeting, especially one that is unplanned or unexpected.
- Their encounter was a matter of chance.
- 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.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter III, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
- A hostile, often violent meeting; a confrontation, skirmish, or clash, as between combatants.
- Synonyms:
- clash, confrontation, brush, skirmish
- A match between two opposing sides.
- 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.2011 October 29, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport
- A sexual encounter; sexual activity, especially unplanned or unexpected, between two people who have not already established a sexual relationship with each other. In many cases, it does not lead to a relationship, and thus is utterly transient. A sexual encounter can be consensual or non-consensual; in the latter case, it is known as sexual assault. A consensual sexual encounter that happens only once is commonly known as a one-night stand.
- Though Mr. Cosby described the sexual encounter in 2004 as consensual, Ms. Constand said she was too intoxicated to physically or verbally resist.2021 October 10, Graham Bowley, “For One Bill Cosby Juror, the Work Did Not End With the Trial”, in The New York Times
- The period of a space mission during which it carries out its data-gathering objectives.
- An extrajudicial killing or execution.
- Telangana Labour and Employment Minister Malla Reddy on Tuesday said that the guilty person in the rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in Hyderabad "will be nabbed and will be killed in an encounter".2021 September 15, “Telangana Minister says, rapist of six-year-old will be nabbed and killed in encounter”, in Catch News, retrieved 25 Feb 2023
encounter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
encounter in Hindi
- meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly
- सामना sāmnā, भेंट bhẽṭ
- engage in conflict
- भिड़ंत bhiṛant
- hostile meeting
- मुक़ाबला muqāblā
encounter in Tamil
- திட்டமிடப்படாத, எதிர்பாராத, வன்முறை மிகுந்த சந்திப்பு, கைகலப்பு, மோதல், போலி மோதல்
encounter in Marathi
- to encounter, come across
- भेटणे bheṭṇe
encounter in Urdu
- encounter; confrontation
- سامنا sāmnā
- encounter
- ملاقات mulāqāt, واقعہ vāqi'a
More languagesFewer languages
- encounter in Bengali
- সাক্ষাৎ, মুকাবিলা, লড়াই, সাক্ষাৎ যুদ্ধ
- encounter in Malayalam
- യാദ്യച്ഛികമായി കണ്ടുമുട്ടുക, കൂട്ടിമുട്ടുക, എതിരിടുക, ഏറ്റുമുട്ടുക
- encounter in Kannada
- ಅಪಾಯಕಾರಿಯಾದುದನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸು, ವಿರೋಧಿಯನ್ನು ಎದುರಿಸು, ಸಂಧಿಸು, ಎದುರಾಗು
- encounter in Punjabi
- ਟਕਰਾਉਣ ṭakrāuṇa, ٹکراوݨ ṭkrāvṇ
- encounter in Gujarati
- મુલાકાત mulākāt, મુકાબલો mukāblo
- encounter in Sanskrit
- समि sami, समिति sámiti
- encounter in Arabic
- صَادَفَ ṣādafa, لَاقَى lāqā, عَثَرَ ʕaṯara, مُلَاقَاة mulāqāh
- encounter in Vietnamese
- bắt gặp
- Kashmiri
- سَمکھُن samkhun
Examples of encounter in a sentence
- We will use a smoke machine to simulate the fog you will actually encounter.
- I am glad of you. And so I have been since our first encounter.
- We encountered an abandoned boat at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
Synonyms of encounter
Forms of encounter
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | encounters |
| present participle | encountering |
| past participle | encountered |
| past | encountered |
| alternative form | encountre |
| alternative form | incountre |
| alternative form | incounter |
| Noun | |
| plural | encounters |
Origin of encounter
From Middle English encountren, from 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”).
Words formed from encounter
Phrases with encounter
Words that rhyme with encounter
Questions about encounter
- What does encounter mean?
- Encounter means to meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly.
- What is encounter in Hindi?
- Encounter in Hindi is सामना (sāmnā), भेंट (bhẽṭ), भिड़ंत (bhiṛant). See Encounter meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is encounter?
- Encounter can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce encounter?
- Encounter is pronounced /ɪnˈkaʊntə/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of encounter?
- The past tense of encounter is encountered.
Words near encounter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: encounter (page history and authors); encounter (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); भेटणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); سامنا (Urdu) (page history and authors); encounter (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); encounter (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); encounter (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); મુકાબલો (Gujarati) (page history and authors); समि (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-encounter.ogg.
Cite this entry: “encounter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/encounter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.