Encounter
[ɪn'kaʊntə;en-] or [ɪn'kaʊntɚ]
Definition
(adv.) 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.
(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.
(v. t.) A meeting face to face; a running against; a sudden or incidental meeting; an interview.
(v. t.) A meeting, with hostile purpose; hence, a combat; a battle; as, a bloody encounter.
Editor: Stephen
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Meeting, rencounter, clash, collision.[2]. Attack, onset, assault.[3]. Conflict, combat, fight, contest, battle, engagement, action, skirmish, brush, affair.
v. a. [1]. Meet (suddenly), meet face to face.[2]. Confront, face.[3]. Meet with, fall upon, come upon.[4]. Attack, engage with, contend against, join battle with, cope with, compete with, struggle with, strive with, fight with.
v. n. Clash, skirmish, rencounter, fight, come into collision.
Typed by Hiram
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Meet, confront, face, withstand, attack, assault, combat, engagement
ANT:Elude, avoid, escape, miss, boo
Checker: Scott
Definition
v.t. to meet face to face esp. unexpectedly: to meet in contest: to oppose.—n. a meeting unexpectedly: an interview: a fight: (Shak.) behaviour.
Checker: Roland
Examples
- And how short while would these rabble villains stand to endure your encounter! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- Be assured, that for my own sake, as well as your's, I will not rashly encounter danger. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- On September 20th occurred a battle, mainly an artillery encounter, at Valmy. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Both Knights broke their lances fairly, but Front-de-Boeuf, who lost a stirrup in the encounter, was adjudged to have the disadvantage. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- The subsequent encounter of the two lovers and their reconciliation is a matter for ironical speculation on the part of Plutarch. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She hailed it as an earnest of the most serious determination, and was equal even to encounter her father. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- In this last encounter, General Kautz, with a part of his command, became separated, and made his way into our lines. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- She was a study of such nature as had not encountered my eyes yet: a great and new planet she was: but in what shape? Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- I have encountered her looks and smiles like--why, like a tutor, as I am. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- But first he had encountered the company commander in the front line who had regarded the whole mission with owlishly grave suspicion. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- On another occasion he encountered a more novel peril by falling into the pile of wheat in a grain elevator and being almost smothered. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Here was a problem the like of which he had never encountered, and he felt rather than reasoned that he must meet it as a man and not as an ape. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Turning to geographical distribution, the difficulties encountered on the theory of descent with modification are serious enough. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Smith's divisions had encountered the rebel advanced pickets as early as half-past seven. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- He ascends the door-steps and is gliding into the dusky hall when he encounters, on the top step, a bowing and propitiatory little man. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Here, you may look in whatsoever direction you please, and your eye encounters scarcely any thing but ruin, ruin, ruin! Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- Several sharp encounters occurred at this point. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Perhaps there was a certain power of suggestion in these encounters. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Johnston's cavalry meanwhile had been well out towards our front, and occasional encounters occurred between it and our outposts. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- True it is that his soldiers, who, save for a few rare melodramatic encounters, saw nothing of him, idolized their Little Corporal. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- He chose a new and a tough spear, lest the wood of the former might have been strained in the previous encounters he had sustained. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- His punishment had impressed him with no sense of shame, and he did not experience that feeling on encountering his chastiser. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was terrible to think of again encountering those bearded, sneering simpletons; yet the ground must be retraced, and the steps sought out. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Soon encountering the rebel cavalry he met with a very stout resistance. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- In this frame of mind, I not only abandoned my contemplated visit to Mrs. Ablewhite--I even shrank from encountering Gabriel Betteredge himself. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- I advanced, in this manner, more than half way along the stick, without encountering anything but the edges of the rocks. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- This his selected task was exchanged for the far different one of encountering the ruin caused by the convulsions of physical nature. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Have you no fear of encountering cavalry? Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Checker: Nellie