encounter

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly.
2. (transitive) To confront (someone or something) face to face.
3. (intransitive, rare) To meet one another.
4. (intransitive) To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
5. (India, euphemistic, transitive) To kill or execute someone extrajudicially.

Noun

1. A meeting, especially one that is unplanned or unexpected.
2. A hostile, often violent meeting; a confrontation, skirmish, or clash, as between combatants.
3. A match between two opposing sides.
4. 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.
5. The period of a space mission during which it carries out its data-gathering objectives.
6. (India) An extrajudicial killing or execution.

Synonyms

meet

come across

meeting

find

🔍

see

👀

face

run into

run across

confront

fight

clash

combat

meet with

hit

skirmish

strike

run up against

score

conflict

get

battle

experience

attain

catch

oppose

meet by chance

discover

attack

👊

rendezvous

brush

come upon

engagement

chance meeting

confrontation

bump into

arrive at

coming upon

reach

accomplish

play

war

take on

come up against

struggle

achieve

happen upon

resist

bump

contact

breast

Translations

rencontrer

encuentro

incontrare

rencontre

treffen

ontmoeten

treffen

incontro

Begegnung

trouver

🔍

encontrar

αντιμετωπίζω

acertar

tegenkomen

dar no alvo

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɪnˈkaʊntə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: encountren

In summary

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”).