I. en ‧ coun ‧ ter 1 W3 AC /ɪnˈkaʊntə $ -ər/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: encontrer , from Late Latin incontra 'toward' ]
1 . to experience something, especially problems or opposition
encounter problems/difficulties
They encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured.
encounter opposition/resistance
The government has encountered strong opposition to its plans to raise income tax.
The doctor had encountered several similar cases in the past.
REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say come across problems/difficulties rather than encounter problems/difficulties and come up against opposition/resistance rather than encounter opposition/resistance :
▪
Did you come across any problems?
▪
We came up against quite a lot of opposition from local people.
2 . formal to meet someone without planning to:
I first encountered him when studying at Cambridge.
II. encounter 2 AC BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . an occasion when you meet someone, or do something with someone you do not know:
She didn’t remember our encounter last summer.
encounter with
His first encounter with Wilson was back in 1989.
Bernstein began training the young musician after a chance encounter at a concert (=a meeting that happened by chance) .
casual sexual encounters (=occasions when people have sex)
encounter between
hostile encounters between supporters of rival football teams
2 . an occasion when you meet or experience something
encounter with
a child’s first encounter with books
a close encounter with a snake (=a frightening situation in which you get too close to something)