Library / English Dictionary

ENCOUNTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A casual meeting with a person or thing

Synonyms:

coming upon; encounter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("encounter" is a kind of...):

connection; connexion; joining (the act of bringing two things into contact (especially for communication))

Derivation:

encounter (come together)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A minor short-term fight

Synonyms:

brush; clash; encounter; skirmish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("encounter" is a kind of...):

combat; fight; fighting; scrap (the act of fighting; any contest or struggle)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "encounter"):

contretemps (an awkward clash)

Derivation:

encounter (contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A hostile disagreement face-to-face

Synonyms:

confrontation; encounter; face-off; showdown

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("encounter" is a kind of...):

disagreement (the speech act of disagreeing or arguing or disputing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A casual or unexpected convergence

Example:

there was a brief encounter in the hallway

Synonyms:

encounter; meeting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("encounter" is a kind of...):

convergence (the occurrence of two or more things coming together)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "encounter"):

alignment; conjunction ((astronomy) apparent meeting or passing of two or more celestial bodies in the same degree of the zodiac)

Derivation:

encounter (come upon, as if by accident; meet with)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle

Example:

Charlie likes to play Mary

Synonyms:

encounter; meet; play; take on

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

"Encounter" entails doing...:

compete; contend; vie (compete for something; engage in a contest; measure oneself against others)

Verb group:

play (participate in games or sport)

play (employ in a game or in a specific position)

play (use or move)

play (shoot or hit in a particular manner)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "encounter"):

confront; face (oppose, as in hostility or a competition)

replay (repeat a game against the same opponent)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

encounter (a minor short-term fight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Come together

Example:

How nice to see you again!

Synonyms:

come across; encounter; meet; run across; run into; see

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Verb group:

assemble; foregather; forgather; gather; meet (collect in one place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "encounter"):

cross; intersect (meet at a point)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

encounter (a casual meeting with a person or thing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come upon, as if by accident; meet with

Example:

She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day

Synonyms:

bump; chance; encounter; find; happen

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

encounter (a casual or unexpected convergence)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be beset by

Example:

The project ran into numerous financial difficulties

Synonyms:

encounter; run into

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "encounter" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Experience as a reaction

Example:

My proposal met with much opposition

Synonyms:

encounter; meet; receive

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "encounter" is one way to...):

experience; have (undergo)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

Cassini's orbit will remain nearly equatorial for the remainder of 2015, during which the spacecraft will have four close encounters with Titan, two with Dione and three with the geyser-moon, Enceladus.

(Saturn Spacecraft Returns to the Realm of Icy Moons, NASA)

When these particles and the magnetic disturbances encounter Earth's magnetic field, they interact in a series of complex physical processes, and trigger perturbations in the Earth's magnetic field.

(Solar Storms Can Drain Electrical Charge Above Earth, NASA)

You won’t encounter the delays that Mercury is known to bring when retrograde, and you can begin to sign contracts.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

In the real world, bacteria always encounter lots of obstacles.

(Bacteria change behavior to tackle tiny obstacle course, National Science Foundation)

But because Voyager 1's last planetary encounter was Saturn, the Voyager team hadn't needed to use the TCM thrusters since November 8, 1980.

(Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years, NASA)

This encounter with TC4 is being used by asteroid trackers around the world to test their ability to operate as a coordinated international asteroid warning network.

(Asteroid Tracking Network Observes Close Approach, NASA)

This relatively close encounter provides an opportunity for scientists to study this asteroid up close.

(Large Asteroid to Safely Pass Earth on Sept. 1, NASA)

Tropical species have historically encountered much less disturbance than those in temperate zones, so respond to it more quickly.

(Forest fragmentation hits wildlife hardest in the tropics, National Science Foundation)

That encounter confirmed the existence of Jovian lightning.

(Juno Solves 39-Year Old Mystery of Jupiter Lightning, NASA)

Every strange or partly familiar word encountered in his reading was immediately jotted down, and later, when a sufficient number had been accumulated, were typed and pinned to the wall or looking-glass.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)