Encounter

An encounter is a meeting or experience between two or more entities. As a verb, encounter means to meet, come upon, or experience something, often in an unexpected or brief way.

Etymology traces the term to Middle English, from Old French enconter, meaning to meet or come upon. Over time, the word broadened to cover a range of interactions, from casual meetings to more substantial confrontations or experiences.

Encounters can take many forms. Social encounters include chance meetings in daily life, casual introductions, or deliberate meetings that shape relationships. The phrase close encounter is used in everyday speech and in science fiction to denote a notable or extraordinary meeting, sometimes with nonhuman beings. Adversarial or police and military contexts describe encounters as brief engagements or confrontations with opponents. A spiritual or religious encounter refers to a direct, often transformative experience with the divine or sacred.

In science and medicine, encounters describe interactions between people and pathogens or between patients and clinicians. Epidemiologists may discuss encounter rates to estimate how often susceptible individuals come into contact with infectious agents, influencing transmission risk. In other domains, encounter can simply denote the act of encountering something new or unknown, a encounter with reality that prompts reflection or change.

Overall, the term encompasses a wide spectrum of meetings and experiences, ranging from ordinary social contact to significant or transformative events, depending on context.