encountern.
/ᵻnˈkaʊntə/, /ɛnˈkaʊntə/, /ᵻŋˈkaʊntə/, /ɛŋˈkaʊntə/, U.S. /ᵻnˈkaʊn(t)ər/, /ɛnˈkaʊn(t)ər/ A meeting face to face.† 3. Manner of meeting another; style of address, behaviour. Obsolete.† 4. An idea that suddenly presents itself, as it were by accident; a happy thought. Obsolete. rare.† 6. Proposed as a name for the rhetorical figure antithesis n. Obsolete. rare.
1. † b. attributive. Obsolete. rare.
a. A meeting face to face; a meeting (of adversaries or opposing forces) in conflict; hence, a battle, skirmish, duel, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > [noun] > an act or instance of > a hostile encounter
encounter1297
counterc1330
brusha1400
recountering1410
recountera1470
encountering1482
re-encounter1525
re-encountry1569
passage1608
congression?1611
confronta1626
traverse1640
clash1646
congress1646
conjunction1648
head-to-head1899
go-around1912
mano a mano1950
face-off1956
bitchfest1985
1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 8051 He vond hard encontre in norþhumberlande.
c1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 5083 But than cam encountre strong Folk of higher Inde among.
1578 Bk. Christian Prayers in Private Prayers (1851) 542 How unseemly an encounter is this, wherein the flesh being matched against the spirit..striveth with him for victory.
1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 110 An incounter of their armies, wherein Cæsar being at that time the weaker had the woorst.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. ii. 115 To leaue this keen incounter of our wits. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 718 Winds the signal blow To joyn thir dark Encounter in mid air. View more context for this quotation
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 229 I..have no heart to this incounter.
1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth i, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 25 In these vales..the Saxons..and the Gael..had many a desperate and bloody encounter.
1853 F. W. Robertson Serm. 3rd Ser. xvii. 221 We must shrink from the encounter with death.
ΚΠ
1603 J. Stow Suruay of London (new ed.) 386 [A champion in the lists says] Though my horse fayle me, I will not fayle an incounter companion.
2. † b. An amatory interview. Obsolete. rare.† c. An accosting, address. Obsolete. Cf. encounter v. 7.
a. The fact of meeting with (a person or thing), esp. undesignedly or casually. Const. of, with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > meeting or encounter > [noun]
mootOE
gain-racea1340
again-cominga1382
encountering1482
rencountering1525
occursionc1540
encountrance1592
occurse1603
occurrence1607
affront1614
occursation1615
encountera1641
collision1664
vis-à-vis1867
a1641 J. Finett Philoxenis (1656) 22 In case he should be put to it upon any incounter of negotiation or otherwise.
1665 J. Evelyn Mem. (1857) III. 161 We are infinitely defective as to..excuses..upon sudden and unpremeditated encounters.
a1699 A. Halkett Autobiogr. (1875) 9 I must here relate a little odd Incounter.
1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams III. iv. 68 The state of calamity to which my..persecutor had reduced me, had made the encounter even of a den of robbers a..fortunate adventure.
a1859 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1861) V. 93 There was constant risk of an encounter which might have produced several duels.
1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude 5 The encounter with superior persons on terms allowing the happiest intercourse.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > amatory interview
encounter1600
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iii. iii. 145 The prince..saw a farre off in the orchard this amiable incounter . View more context for this quotation
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 94 Who hath indeede most like a liberall villaine, Confest the vile encounters they haue had A thousand times in secret. View more context for this quotation
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > conversation > addressing or speaking to > [noun]
compellation1603
allocution1615
encountera1616
alloquy1623
accostmenta1626
accost1807
alloquialism1872
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) ii. vii. 41 For I would preuent The loose encounters of lasciuious men. View more context for this quotation
d. (A session of) encounter therapy; the experience of participating in an encounter group. Also spec., the name of an organization (also called the Human Potentials Movement) which originally promoted encounter groups. See encounter group n. at Compounds below.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > encounter therapy
encounter1967
encounter therapy1970
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > encounter therapy > organization which promoted
encounter1967
1967 C. R. Rogers in J. F. Bugental Challenges Humanistic Psychol. 263/1 The interaction is best thought of..as a varied tapestry..with certain kinds of trends evidenced in most of these intensive encounters.
1968 J. Howard in Life 12 July 57/2 The movement is..known in some quarters as the ‘encounter’ and in others as the ‘T-group’.
1970 J. Howard Please Touch 4 Encounters, one leader of the movement says, ‘teach intimacy, which gives life a whole new dimension’.
1970 J. Howard Please Touch 16 After the Advanced Encounter I was persuaded easily to remain for the weekend.
1972 Times 5 June 13/3 Encounter, or the Human Potential Movement, or the Growth Movement, as its devotees call it, is rapidly catching on in this country from America.
1973 Nation Rev. (Melbourne) 31 Aug. 1462/1 The irrational core of the encounter movement..is that the complexity of human growth can be reduced to programmed emotional experience... The encounter experience, a feature of the middle class American search for utopia, has now become an entity in our own country.
1976 New Yorker 5 Jan. 30/1 It is true that encounter—which has been described as a way of achieving personal growth through the exploration of feelings among people gathered together for that purpose—owed a great deal of its vogue to the development it underwent at Esalen.
1986 G. Slovo Death by Anal. iii. 23 He started a series of bio-energetic groups with a bit of gestalt and encounter thrown in on the side.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > [noun] > in social intercourse > specific
encounter1604
company manners1798
table manners1824
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet v. ii. 151 The tune of the time, and out of an habit of incounter.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. ii. 48 With what encounter so vncurrant, I Haue strayn'd t'appeare thus. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. vi. 55 That with your strange encounter much amasde me. View more context for this quotation
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > idea, notion, or concept > [noun] > presenting itself
self-suggestion1579
encounter1651
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. viii. 34 Many times with encounters of extraordinary Fancy.
1678 T. Hobbes Decameron Physiologicum i. 11 Wonder..I never thought upon't before, for it is a very happy encounter.
5. The fact of being met with; occurrence. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [noun] > occurring or happening
chance1297
befallingc1374
betidingc1374
occasionc1390
happening1431
turna1475
event1601
cadence1603
turning up1628
eveniencya1646
cadency1647
coming1651
occurrence1725
eventuation1728
encounter1870
occurrency1920
1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 1st Ser. 203 Things of daily encounter.
ΚΠ
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xix. 175 Ye haue another figure very pleasant and fit for amplification, which to answer the Greeke terme, we may call the encounter.
Compounds
Special combinations.
encounter group n. originally U.S. in group therapy, a group which meets in order to improve the emotional adjustments of its members through body contact, emotional expression, and confrontation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > encounter therapy > group
encounter group1967
1967 C. R. Rogers in J. F. Bugental Challenges Humanistic Psychol. 262/2 Since then I have been involved in more than forty ventures of what I would like to term—using the label most congenial to me—basicencounter groups.
1968 J. Howard in Life 12 July 65/3 Will all that remains be a few yellowing Christmas cards from friends we met in encounter groups?
1978 G. A. Sheehan Running & Being viii. 105 Sport..reminds me of an encounter group I once attended. In the first exercise, the person next to me asked me again and again, ‘Who are you?’
1985 Verbatim Spring 17/2 Many articles and books, radio and television programs, and self-help and encounter groups are designed to help us curb our tempers.
encounter therapy n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > encounter therapy
encounter1967
encounter therapy1970
1970 J. Howard Please Touch 24 A weekend of ‘Nude Encounter Therapy’ run in some swimming pool near Los Angeles by a therapist.
1986 New Yorker 22 Sept. 68/2 People..practised growth-movement therapies: rolfing..and encounter therapies.
Draft additions September 2017
South Asian. A violent incident resulting in the killing of a suspected criminal by the police. Often with modifying word, as false encounter, police encounter, etc.Sometimes euphemistic, with the implication of a deliberate act depicted as a chance incident.
ΚΠ
1977 Econ. & Polit. Weekly 9 July 1079/1 The need is for a complete and comprehensive inquiry into..liquidation of naxalites in the name of ‘encounters’.
1984 Brandon (Manitoba) Sun 17 Dec. 4/2 These people were shot dead by showing fake police encounters and their bodies cremated without giving their relatives notice.
1997 G. K. Ghosh & S. Ghosh Women of Manipur xxviii. 213 Administration should also take care to see that these youths should not be killed under pretext of false encounter.
2017 Nation (Pakistan) (Nexis) 21 Mar. The petitioner said that the police registered a case under charges of attempted murder and police encounter but did not mention the murder of her sons.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
encounterv.
/ᵻnˈkaʊntə/, /ɛnˈkaʊntə/, /ᵻŋˈkaʊntə/, /ɛŋˈkaʊntə/, U.S. /ᵻnˈkaʊn(t)ər/, /ɛnˈkaʊn(t)ər/ 1. † b. intransitive. Const. against, usually with. Obsolete.
a. transitive. To meet as an adversary; to confront in battle, assail. Sometimes absol. with reciprocal sense. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > carry on (a contest, fight, etc.) [verb (transitive)] > have hostile encounter with
keepc1275
encounterc1300
rencounter1463
counterc1475
re-encounter1523
c1300 St. Brandan 411 And encountrede this lithere fisch and smot to him faste.
1477 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Hist. Jason (1913) 6 They that encountrid Hercules.
a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 3262 And ywons king..Encounterit hyme in myddis of the gren.
1577 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians (new ed.) f. 146 But let us suffer the law and the promise to encounter together.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 544 Astonied at the sight of a monstrous bull let loose and ready to incounter him.
1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia i. 2 He was provided with a Navy able to incounter a Kings power.
1626 J. Mede Let. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. III. 250 The Duke was hotly encountered by the Sailors about this day sennight.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 126 They challenge, and encounter Breast to Breast. View more context for this quotation
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxxviii. 394 The two kings encountered each other in single combat.
1797 E. Burke Three Memorials on French Affairs 85 Enemies very different from those she has hitherto had to encounter.
1851 E. Creasy Fifteen Decisive Battles 222 To encounter Varus's army in a pitched battle.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > dissent > contention or strife > contend [verb (intransitive)] > engage in hostile encounter
counter1330
encounter1555
to come to grips1640
to come to gripesa1645
buckle?1650
to lock horns (also antlers)1850
face1922
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde ii. i. f. 53 Encounteryng with them, he was repulsed with shame and domage.
?a1562 G. Cavendish Life Wolsey (1959) 181 Ayenst whome the kyng was constrayned to encontre in his Royall person.
a1677 J. Taylor Contempl. State Man (1684) i. x. 116 That dreadful day wherein the Army of Vengeance..are to encounter with the Army of sin.
1728 R. Morris Ess. Anc. Archit. 18 The single Enemies I have to encounter with.
a. transitive. To go counter to, oppose, thwart; to contest, dispute. Also absol. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > opposition > oppose [verb (transitive)]
withgo743
to go again ——OE
withsayc1175
again-goc1275
withsitc1300
thwarta1325
to go against ——a1382
counter1382
repugnc1384
adversea1393
craba1400
gainsaya1400
movec1400
overthwart?a1425
to put (also set) one's face againsta1425
traversea1425
contrairc1425
to take again ——c1425
contraryc1430
to take against ——a1450
opposec1485
again-seta1500
gain?a1500
oppone1500
transverse1532
to come up against1535
heave at1546
to be against1549
encounter1549
to set shoulder against1551
to fly in the face of1553
crossc1555
to cross with1590
countermand1592
forstand1599
opposit1600
thorter1608
obviate1609
disputea1616
obstrigillate1623
contradict1632
avert1635
to set one's hand against1635
top1641
militate1642
to come across ——1653
contrariate1656
to cross upon (or on)1661
shock1667
clash1685
rencounter1689
obtend1697
counteract1708
oppugnate1749
retroact?1761
controvert1782
react1795
to set against ——1859
appose-
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Rom. vii. f. xviiv But some one will againe encounter and saye.
1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie vi. 32 When they withstand God and incounter his Word.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. 225 Nothing is so vnpleasant to a man, as to be encountred in his chiefe affection.
1638 Penit. Conf. (1657) vi. 99 Saint Augustine incountring that opinion..reasoneth thus.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) 79 From the intrinsecal nature of the things that encounter the possibility of an eternal successive duration in them.
1786 E. Burke Articles of Charge against W. Hastings in Wks. (1815) XII. 144 The evidence of this man, not having been encountered at the time.
ΚΠ
1678 A. Marvell Let. 28 Mar. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 299 Lest I should happen to incounter with our proceedings.
a. transitive. To be placed opposite, or in opposite directions, to (each other). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > opposite position > be opposite (something) [verb (transitive)]
oppose1615
encounter1660
subtend1670
answer1789
vis-à-vis1839
1660 Guillim's Display of Heraldrie (ed. 4) vi. v. 405 She beareth..three swords barwayes, proper, the middlemost encountring the other two.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > opposite position > be opposite [verb (intransitive)]
encounter1659
1659 J. Leak tr. I. de Caus New Inventions Water-works 34 There are Pins AE, incountring with Pins which are in PH.
4. † b. intransitive. Const. with. Obsolete.
a. To meet, fall in with (a person or thing), esp. casually. Sometimes absol. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > meeting or encounter > meet or encounter [verb (transitive)]
meeteOE
yaina1000
yseeOE
oftakelOE
to meet withc1300
finda1325
encounter1520
occur1527
bemeet1608
to fall in1675
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement towards a thing, person, or position > meeting or encounter > meet or encounter [verb (intransitive)]
to feel togethera1500
occur1533
alight1591
bemeet1656
encounter1822
1520 Chron. Eng. iii. f. 26/,1 Pompei and he encountred togyder.
1528 Foxe Let. to Gardiner 12 May in N. Pocock Rec. Reform. (1870) I. 141 Encountering Mr. Silvester Darius in the same place, who then was sent from the king's highness..into Spayne.
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. ii. xvi. §2. 466 Two men should incounter him by Rahels Sepulcher.
1662 J. Evelyn Sculptura iv. 52 Some rare things in Stampi to be encountred amongst the Collections of the Curious.
1776 S. Johnson in J. Boswell Life Johnson (1816) III. §49 The most extraordinary young man that has encountered my knowledge.
1822 Ld. Byron Werner i. i. 322 We never met before, and never..may again encounter.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §8. 57 I encountered a considerable stream rushing across it [the glacier].
1875 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life (ed. 2) iii. iii. 91 He knew the dictionary meaning of every word he encountered.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [verb (intransitive)] > come across or meet with
again-comea1382
counterc1475
occur1527
to fall on ——1533
recounter1583
greeta1627
encounter1632
rencounter1632
bemeet1656
pop1668
to fall in1808
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. v. 190 A Christian Amaronite, who accidently encountred with vs.
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 142 It would be difficult to quote twenty lines in Mr. Bayes but we should encounter with the Roman Empire.
1767 Babler I. 67 xv. Some how or other my eye encountered with Miss Maria's at the end of this speech.
5. † b. intransitive. Const. with. Obsolete.
a. To meet with, experience (difficulties, opposition, etc.). Also with notion of 1: To face resolutely.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [verb (transitive)] > encounter or experience
ymetec893
findeOE
meetOE
counterc1325
overtakec1390
limp?a1400
tidea1400
runa1450
to fall with ——?c1475
onlightc1475
recounterc1485
recount1490
to come in witha1500
occur1531
to fall on ——1533
to fall upon ——1533
beshine1574
rencontre1582
entertain1591
cope with1594
happen1594
tocome1596
incur1599
forgather1600
thwart1601
to fall in1675
cross1684
to come across ——1738
to cross upon (or on)1748
to fall across ——1760
experience1786
to drop in1802
encounter1814
to come upon ——1820
to run against ——1821
to come in contact with1862
to run across ——1864
to knock or run up against1886
to knock up against1887
1814 I. D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. II. 4 The Royal Society..encountered fierce hostilities.
1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. ii. 68 Disease was not, however, the only enemy which the British had to encounter.
1876 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People (1882) iii. §5. 141 From the Church he [Henry III] encountered as resolute an opposition.
ΚΠ
1581 Apol. or Def. Prince William sig. B2v If..I had not incountered with the hatred of the Spanishe nation.
1776 G. Semple Treat. Building in Water 14 They had not any Difficulties of Water to encounter with.
a. To go to meet. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) i. iii. 33 At the sixt houre of Morne, at Noone, at Midnight, T' encounter me with Orisons. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 82 I will encounter darknesse as a bride, And hugge it in mine armes. View more context for this quotation
b. Bombastically used for: To go to, approach (nonce-use).
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iii. i. 73 Will you incounter the house. View more context for this quotation
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > conversation > addressing or speaking to > speak to or address [verb (transitive)]
speakc950
beclepec1220
enreason1297
saluec1300
calla1325
clepe1362
to speak on ——?1370
salutec1380
to call upon ——c1405
escry1483
assaya1522
treatc1540
accost1567
encounter1578
bespeaka1593
affront1598
parley1611
address1683
chin-chin1817
chat1898
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 2v Wyth..smilinge face,..encountred him on thys manner.
1590 R. Greene Neuer too Late i. 30 Isabel..incountred him thus. Gentle sir, etc.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† encounteradv.
Obsolete. rare.
Opposite, contrary; = counter adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > contrariety or contrast > [adverb]
fromward?c1225
contrariouslyc1380
contrarying to1382
reversinglya1425
contrary1463
clean fro1483
repugnantly?1526
diametrally?1533
contrairly1535
in diameter1543
thwartly1558
oppositely1567
contrarily1570
contrariwise1574
diameter-wise1600
diameterly1603
reciprocallya1628
diametrically1633
counter1643
encounter1660
polarly1670
Antarcticallya1711
contrariantly1796
antithetically1816
tout au contraire1841
antistrophically1842
contrapositively1858
in reverse1869
at cross-corners with1892
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > disharmony or incongruity > [adverb] > in direct opposition
reversinglya1425
contrary1463
contrariwise1574
encounter1660
1660 Hist. Indep. 82 The rogue of all the Kingdom ran directly encounter to their designs.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1297v.c1300
adv.1660