ENCOUNTER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Encounter

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/ɪnkˈaʊntər/ /ɪnkˈaʊnər/ Listen

noun

Encounter n.

A meeting face to face; a running against; a sudden or incidental meeting; an interview. "To shun the encounter of the vulgar crowd."

A meeting, with hostile purpose; hence, a combat; a battle; as, a bloody encounter. "As one for... fierce encounters fit". "To join their dark encounter in mid-air"..

Synonyms: Contest; conflict; fight; combat; assault; rencounter; attack; engagement; onset. See Contest.

verb

Encounter v. t. (past & past part. encountered; pres. part. encountering) To come against face to face; to meet; to confront, either by chance, suddenly, or deliberately; especially, to meet in opposition or with hostile intent; to engage in conflict with; to oppose; to struggle with; as, to encounter a friend in traveling; two armies encounter each other; to encounter obstacles or difficulties, to encounter strong evidence of a truth. "Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him." "I am most fortunate thus accidentally to encounter you."

Encounter v. i. To meet face to face; to have a meeting; to meet, esp. as enemies; to engage in combat; to fight; as, three armies encountered at Waterloo. "I will encounter with Andronicus." "Perception and judgment, employed in the investigation of all truth, have in the first place to encounter with particulars."

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Etymology of 'Encounter'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Encounter" Quotes from Famous Books

... improvidence, which very soon became conspicuous, and this was a surprise. The strength of Germany, as now exhibited, was a surprise. And when the German armies entered France, every step was a surprise. Wissembourg was a surprise; so was Woerth; so was Beaumont; so was Sedan. Every encounter was a surprise. Abel Douay, the French general, who fell bravely fighting at Wissembourg, the first sacrifice on the battle-field, was surprised; so was MacMahon, not only at the beginning, but at the end. He thought that the King and Crown Prince were marching on Paris. ...

— The Duel Between France and Germany • Charles Sumner

... of the King say that these men ran up, and were wounded, later, in another encounter. As to this we have no evidence, but we have evidence of their issuing, wounded, from the dark staircase at the ...

— James VI and the Gowrie Mystery • Andrew Lang

... reckless spirit of frivolity took possession of him, and he astonished his fellow traveller by the ebullience of his humor and the play of his extravagant fancy. He mimicked the speech and grotesque gestures of Plutarch, and laughed over the ludicrous finale of the encounter ...

— A Dream of Empire - Or, The House of Blennerhassett • William Henry Venable

... supersession of Ceres by the Greek Demeter had obscured this in historical times. The Parilia on the 19th, recently illuminated by Dr. Frazer,[201] was a lustration of the cattle and sheep before they left their winter pasture to encounter the dangers of wilder hill or woodland, and may be compared with the lustratio of the host before a campaign. On the 23rd the Vinalia tells its own tale, and shows that the cultivation of the vine was already a part of the agricultural work. On the 25th the spirit ...

— The Religious Experience of the Roman People - From the Earliest Times to the Age of Augustus • W. Warde Fowler

... submission seemed to exasperate him and to develop a crafty ingenuity in finding fault. He brooded grimly on his brother's probable exultation when he should return and hear the news of the casting vote. To fortify himself for the encounter he spent much time at the still, and his drunken, reasonless wrath was even more formidable to the object of his displeasure than his sober, surly resentment against her as the cause of all his disasters. But Justus did not come. Walter began to doubt if the news of the untoward result ...

— The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain and Other Stories • Charles Egbert Craddock

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