(~s, ~ing, met)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
If you ~ someone, you happen to be in the same place as them and start talking to them. You may know the other person, but be surprised to see them, or you may not know them at all.
I have just met the man I want to spend the rest of my life with...
He’s the kindest and sincerest person I’ve ever met...
We met by chance.
V-RECIP: V n, V n, pl-n V
•
Meet up means the same as ~ .
When he was in the supermarket, he met up with a buddy he had at Oxford...
They met up in 1956, when they were both young schoolboys.
PHRASAL VERB: V P with n, pl-n V P
2.
If two or more people ~, they go to the same place, which they have earlier arranged to do, so that they can talk or do something together.
We could ~ for a drink after work...
Meet me down at the beach tomorrow, at 6am sharp.
V-RECIP: pl-n V, V n
•
Meet up means the same as ~ .
We tend to ~ up for lunch once a week...
My intention was to have a holiday and ~ up with old friends.
PHRASAL VERB: pl-n V P, V P with n
3.
If you ~ someone, you are introduced to them and begin talking to them and getting to know them.
Hey, Terry, come and ~ my Dad.
VERB: V n
4.
You use ~ in expressions such as ‘Pleased to ~ you’ and ‘Nice to have met you’ when you want to politely say hello or goodbye to someone you have just met for the first time.
‘Jennifer,’ Miss Mallory said, ‘this is Leigh Van-Voreen.’—‘Pleased to ~ you,’ Jennifer said...
I have to leave. Nice to have met you.
VERB: V n, V n formulae
5.
If you ~ someone off their train, plane, or bus, you go to the station, airport, or bus stop in order to be there when they arrive.
Mama met me at the station...
Lili and my father met me off the boat...
Kurt’s parents weren’t able to ~ our plane so we took a taxi.
VERB: V n prep/adv, V n off n, V n
6.
When a group of people such as a committee ~, they gather together for a particular purpose.
Officials from the two countries will ~ again soon to resume negotiations...
The commission met 14 times between 1988 and 1991.
VERB: V, V
7.
If you ~ with someone, you have a ~ing with them. (mainly AM)
Most of the lawmakers who met with the president yesterday said they backed the mission.
VERB: V with n
8.
If something such as a suggestion, proposal, or new book ~s with or is met with a particular reaction, it gets that reaction from people.
The idea met with a cool response from various quarters...
Reagan’s speech was met with incredulity in the US.
VERB: V with n, V n with n
9.
If something ~s a need, requirement, or condition, it is good enough to do what is required.
The current arrangements for the care of severely mentally ill people are inadequate to ~ their needs...
Out of the original 23,000 applications, 16,000 candidates ~ the entry requirements.
= satisfy
VERB: V n, V n
10.
If you ~ something such as a problem or challenge, you deal with it satisfactorily or do what is required.
They had worked heroically to ~ the deadline.
VERB: V n
11.
If you ~ the cost of something, you provide the money that is needed for it.
The government said it will help ~ some of the cost of the damage...
As your income increases you will find less difficulty in finding the money to ~ your monthly repayments.
VERB: V n, V n
12.
If you ~ a situation, attitude, or problem, you experience it or become aware of it.
I honestly don’t know how I will react the next time I ~ a potentially dangerous situation...
= come across, encounter
VERB: V n
13.
You can say that someone ~s with success or failure when they are successful or unsuccessful.
Attempts to find civilian volunteers have met with embarrassing failure...
VERB: V with n
14.
When a moving object ~s another object, it hits or touches it.
You sense the stresses in the hull each time the keel ~s the ground...
Nick’s head bent slowly over hers until their mouths met.
V-RECIP: V n, pl-n V
15.
If your eyes ~ someone else’s, you both look at each other at the same time. (WRITTEN)
Nina’s eyes met her sisters’ across the table...
I found myself smiling back instinctively when our eyes met.
V-RECIP: V n, pl-n V
16.
If two areas ~, especially two areas of land or sea, they are next to one another.
It is one of the rare places in the world where the desert ~s the sea.
...the southernmost point of South America where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans ~.
V-RECIP: V n, pl-n V
17.
The place where two lines ~ is the place where they join together.
Parallel lines will never ~ no matter how far extended...
The track widened as it met the road.
V-RECIP: pl-n V, V n
18.
If two sportsmen, teams, or armies ~, they compete or fight against one another.
The two women will ~ tomorrow in the final...
...when England last met the Aussies in a cricket Test match.
V-RECIP: pl-n V, V n
19.
A ~ is an event in which athletes come to a particular place in order to take part in a race or races.
John Pennel became the first person to pole-vault 17 ft., at a ~ in Miami, Florida.
N-COUNT
20.
If you do not ~ someone’s eyes or ~ someone’s gaze, you do not look at them although they are looking at you, for example because you are ashamed.
He hesitated, then shook his head, refusing to ~ her eyes.
PHRASE: V inflects
21.
If someone ~s their death or ~s their end, they die, especially in a violent or suspicious way. (WRITTEN)
Jacob Sinclair met his death at the hands of a soldier...
PHRASE: V inflects
22.
to make ends ~: see end
there’s more to this than ~s the eye: see eye
to ~ someone’s eyes: see eye
to ~ someone halfway: see halfway
to ~ your match: see match