Word.ws English Dictionary

meet someone where they are

meet someone where they are verb: to approach a person in a way that suits them and takes into account their personal perspectives or skill level.

Verb

meet someone where they are (third-person singular simple present meets someone where they are, present participle meeting someone where they are, simple past and past participle met someone where they were)

  1. To approach a person in a way that suits them and takes into account their personal perspectives or skill level.
    • I believe what helps a leader influence is being able to meet someone where they are at in order to communicate in a language that inspires a positive behaviour.2015, Patricia Lustig, Strategic Foresight: Learning from the Future, page 171
    • It's the ultimate in unselfishness to meet someone where they are in hopes of helping them come to know Jesus. What about you? Are you willing to meet people where they are in order to share the truth of the Gospel?2021, Chris Thomas, Chris Notes, page 53
    Antonyms:
    impose, obtrude

Antonyms of meet someone where they are

Forms of meet someone where they are

third-person singular presentmeets someone where they are
present participlemeeting someone where they are
past participlemet someone where they were
pastmet someone where they were

Questions about meet someone where they are

What does meet someone where they are mean?
Meet someone where they are means to approach a person in a way that suits them and takes into account their personal perspectives or skill level.
What part of speech is meet someone where they are?
Meet someone where they are is a verb.
What is the past tense of meet someone where they are?
The past tense of meet someone where they are is met someone where they were.

Words near meet someone where they are in the dictionary

  1. meet one's doom
  2. meet one's end
  3. meet one's maker
  4. meet one's match
  5. meet one's Waterloo
  6. meet someone where they are
  7. meet the new boss, same as the old boss
  8. meet up
  9. meet with
  10. meet-and-greet
  11. meet-and-greets

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: meet someone where they are (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.

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