Word.ws English Dictionary

rencontre

rencontre noun: a chance or unexpected meeting or encounter. Also the obsolete form of rencounter.

Noun

rencontre (plural rencontres)

  1. (archaic) A chance or unexpected meeting or encounter.
    • In the entrance hall I was somewhat surprised, and my fair companion still more so, when we met Rashleigh Osbaldistone, who could not help shewing equal wonder at our rencontre.1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst...
    • [T]his interview was marked with circumstances in some degree more formally complaisant than those which attended your meeting with him in our worthy publisher's; for yours had the appearance of a fortuitous rencontre, whereas mine was preceded by the communication of a large roll of papers...1822, [Walter Scott], “Prefatory Letter, from the Reverend Doctor Driasdust of York, to Captain Clutterbuck, Residing at Fairy-Lodge, near Kennaquhair, N.B.”, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume I...

Also used as

rencontre is also the obsolete form of rencounter.

Forms of rencontre

Noun
pluralrencontres
alternative form (archaic)rencounter
Verb
third-person singular presentrencontres
present participlerencontring
past participlerencontred
pastrencontred

Origin of rencontre

From Middle French rencontre.

From Middle English rencontren, from Middle French rencontrer.

Phrases with rencontre

Questions about rencontre

What does rencontre mean?
Rencontre means a chance or unexpected meeting or encounter.
What part of speech is rencontre?
Rencontre is a noun.
What is the plural of rencontre?
The plural of rencontre is rencontres.

Words near rencontre in the dictionary

  1. renban lines
  2. rench
  3. Renchen
  4. Rencher
  5. Renchers
  6. rencontre
  7. Rencontre East
  8. rencontred
  9. rencontres
  10. rencontring
  11. rencounter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rencontre (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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Cite this entry: “rencontre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rencontre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.