encounter
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪnˈkaʊntə/
ipa: /ɪŋˈkaʊntə/
ipa: /ɪnˈkaʊntɚ/
ipa: /ɪŋˈkaʊntɚ/
rhymes: -aʊntə(ɹ)
Forms: form: encounters
form: encountering
form: encountered
form: encountered
form: encountre
form: incountre
form: incounter
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: It fits Ioues ſonne / VVraſtle vvith Lyons, and to tugge vvith Beares, / Grapple vvith Dragons, and incounter VVhales.
ref: 1613, Thomas Heywood, The Silver Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Beniamin Lightfoote […], →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:
text: H' incounters Talgol, routs the Bear, / And takes the Fidler Prisoner; / Conveys him to enchanted Castle, / There shuts him fast in wooden Bastile.
ref: 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 28:
text: It ran derailed for about 500 yards before encountering a set of points, which caused it to veer into the path of an Immingham-Ferrybridge coal train, powered by Freightliner 66521 (one of a class of locomotive well-known for being well-built enough to destroy anything that got in its way).
ref: 2021 February 24, Greg Morse, “Great Heck: a tragic chain of events”, in RAIL, number 925, page 39:
synonyms: cross paths
glosses: To meet (someone) or find (something), especially unexpectedly.
glosses: To confront (someone or something) face to face.
examples: text: […] yet when the brother and the sister had encountered, according to the set appointment, none of these impassionedments had been repeated.
ref: 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or The Ambiguities:
glosses: To meet one another.
examples: text: Three armies encountered at Waterloo.
text: Techelles, and the reſt prepare your ſwordes:
I meane to incounter with that Baiazeth.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:
text: I will encounter with Andronicus.
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
glosses: To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
examples: text: Speaking to the media, Reddy said, "He (Accused in 6-year-old rape and murder case) should be encountered. We will nab the accused and will encounter him. We will stand by the victim's family. We console them and will provide aid to the family. We will encounter him (the accused)."
ref: 2021 September 15, “Telangana Minister says, rapist of six-year-old will be nabbed and killed in encounter”, in Catch News, retrieved 25 Feb 2023:
glosses: To kill or execute someone extrajudicially.
Derived terms: encounterable
encounterer
misencounter
nonencounter
reencounter
re-encounter
unencountered