1
as in confronting
to come upon face-to-face or as if face-to-face
quite unexpectedly encountered our next-door neighbor while vacationing in Europe
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in finding
to come upon unexpectedly or by chance
we encountered a host of unforeseen problems during the restoration of our 200-year-old house
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in facing
to enter into contest or conflict with
the troops encountered bands of guerrilla fighters as they made their way across the desert
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of encountering
Here, Amer plays a fictional version of himself, a Palestinian refugee who is trying to get legal status while encountering personal and professional roadblocks at every turn.
—
Maira Garcia,
Los Angeles Times,
3 July 2026
Conditions can shift rapidly, even in summer, with climbers encountering ice, rockfall and limited visibility within hours.
—
James Ward,
USA Today,
2 July 2026
As buyers continue encountering AI slop—intelligent-sounding output that's confidently wrong, outdated or so generic it could have been written for anyone—their trust erodes, friction is introduced and deals stall.
—
Ray Makela,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
The fraught subject of the proper disposition of those human remains has taken on a new sensitivity — both for the prehistoric people’s Native American successors in Florida, and for the archaeologists and developers encountering them.
—
Andres Viglucci,
Miami Herald,
30 June 2026
When encountering areas of fog, visibility will reduce quickly.
—
Kansas City Star Weather Bot,
Kansas City Star,
27 June 2026
More users have been encountering this situation as Netflix has gradually required that each profile under a Netflix subscription use a unique email address.
—
Scharon Harding,
ArsTechnica,
26 June 2026
Heaton recalled encountering a farmer in Uganda while volunteering there.
—
Angela Andaloro,
PEOPLE,
23 June 2026
Humans deal with these situations using common sense but current AI can freeze when encountering a situation not present in its training data.
—
New Atlas,
20 June 2026
Maira Garcia,
Los Angeles Times,
3 July 2026
Conditions can shift rapidly, even in summer, with climbers encountering ice, rockfall and limited visibility within hours.
—
James Ward,
USA Today,
2 July 2026
As buyers continue encountering AI slop—intelligent-sounding output that's confidently wrong, outdated or so generic it could have been written for anyone—their trust erodes, friction is introduced and deals stall.
—
Ray Makela,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2026
The fraught subject of the proper disposition of those human remains has taken on a new sensitivity — both for the prehistoric people’s Native American successors in Florida, and for the archaeologists and developers encountering them.
—
Andres Viglucci,
Miami Herald,
30 June 2026
When encountering areas of fog, visibility will reduce quickly.
—
Kansas City Star Weather Bot,
Kansas City Star,
27 June 2026
More users have been encountering this situation as Netflix has gradually required that each profile under a Netflix subscription use a unique email address.
—
Scharon Harding,
ArsTechnica,
26 June 2026
Heaton recalled encountering a farmer in Uganda while volunteering there.
—
Angela Andaloro,
PEOPLE,
23 June 2026
Humans deal with these situations using common sense but current AI can freeze when encountering a situation not present in its training data.
—
New Atlas,
20 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for encountering
Verb
-
Business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and educators are confronting questions as consequential as those faced 250 years ago.
-
Authorities plan to shut down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of Khamenei, who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West.
Verb
-
More than a week after the disaster, search-and-rescue operations remain active, though hopes of finding additional survivors are rapidly fading.
-
The family pursued legal action after finding that their pool was not built according to code, and put the settlement money toward founding a water safety nonprofit, The Zac Foundation.
Verb
-
While portals offer a vital communication channel for patients facing long appointment wait times, the cognitive load on physicians is immense.
-
The Education Department’s civil rights office had long been the last resort for parents who believe their child is facing discrimination at school, with a mandate to review all complaints.
Verb
-
Their lives gradually shift after meeting No Yeong-ju, an optimistic singing instructor played by Im Ji-eun, whose positive outlook encourages both women to confront their past.
-
The warning is the second issued by UCSB police since May, when an 18-year-old freshman reported she was raped and strangled after meeting a man at a Sigma Pi fraternity party before returning to her dorm at Tropicana Gardens in Isla Vista.
Verb
-
But this year, the city is catching a little guff over an apparent oversight.
-
And that job is made all the more difficult when catching for two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who holds himself and his teammates to very high standards.
Verb
-
That care continues once Bay and the rest of his staff begin greeting players before breakfast.
-
That energy continues after the show as Buteau and Peppermint make the rounds, greeting cast members as they exit backstage sans cat ear wigs and makeup.
Cite this Entry
“Encountering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/encountering. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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