From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishencounteren‧coun‧ter1 /ɪnˈkaʊntə $ -ər/ ●●○ W3 AWL verb [transitive] 1 PROBLEMto experience something, especially problems or oppositionencounter 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.RegisterIn 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 MEET formal to meet someone without planning to I first encountered him when studying at Cambridge.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
encounter• One encounters a comparatively congenial Schoenberg here.• On the way to town, the soldiers encountered a group of white policemen and shot two of them.• Matheu's efforts to establish the clinic encountered a number of setbacks.• All three dialed up without encountering any busy signals when tested Thursday morning.• This, incidentally, could help with the problem encountered earlier of incorporating unusual crimes such as child abuse in the postclassical perspective.• An attempt by Bandai to break into the game player business has encountered even more problems.• Drivers on the M25 are likely to encounter fog and black ice tonight.• Other abbreviations are encountered in some thesauri.• It was rare that she encountered interesting people through her work.• He was a famous painter once more now, not simply a local eccentric to encounter on the beach.• If your dog encounters poison oak, do not pet it until you clean its fur.• Many of the children encountered some difficulty in learning the material.• The government has encountered strong opposition over its plans to build a new airport.• It was on that second voyage he encountered the Odonata.• He encountered the young woman as she was leaving a coffee shop.encounter problems/difficulties• But recently Julia has been encountering difficulties.• Problems of Status and Structure Volunteers who immediately assumed their permanent assignments also encountered difficulties.• Constantly he creates situations for which he can find no earthly solution and his characters encounter difficulties beyond their means to control.• Mehta -- a cousin of the celebrated Zubin -- also encounters difficulties, but keeps going.• As a school-age child, she encounters difficulties comprehending instructions.• Science and technology still accounted for the largest group of students, though recruitment for technology was encountering difficulties in Britain generally.• Whitehall officials have encountered difficulties in deciding which essential services to include.• If they buy on credit are they likely to encounter difficulties in repaying the loan?encounterencounter2 ●○○ AWL noun [countable] 1 MEETan 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 teams2 an occasion when you meet or experience somethingencounter 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)Examples from the Corpus
encounter• Once before, following another encounter, a brutal and terrifying encounter, she had recognized that.• Rebelling against him and going their own way would risk another encounter with the deep.• A bus ride from New York to Miami brings encounters with all kinds of people.• A chance encounter in a restaurant led to her first movie role.• This, my first encounter with real racism came as a shock.• Brooke-Rose's engagement with feminist theory is typical of her encounter with literary theory in general.• Not all my encounters with the world of academic gamesmanship were so chilly.• He did not appear to remember our encounter last summer and just nodded when we were introduced.• These evinced no embarrassment at the encounter.• He would be no prettier after this encounter.• Then he analyzed tapes of those encounters in an acoustic laboratory at the National Zoo, set up to study bird calls.encounter with• The U.S. had won its first encounter with the North Vietnamese army.close encounter• Desert Orchid and a close encounter of the short kind.• In a close encounter last season, Gloucester pipped Northampton by 7 points to 6.• I've twice had close encounters of a nasty kind with flying lead.• We also shared a cou-ple of close encounters with danger.• The designer's close encounter of severe illness had a profound influence on his scheme.• The pain is severe and no predator would risk a second close encounter with these snakes.• Retired Willcox schoolteacher Joe Duhon has had several close encounters with the Playa, but he keeps going back.• For those unexpected close encounters, breath refresher capsules can be a real life-saver.Origin encounter1 (1200-1300) Old French encontrer, from Late Latin incontra “toward” 