What is the meaning of encounter?

noun

• A minor short-term fight.
  • synonyms: brush, clash, skirmish
• A casual or unexpected convergence.
  • usage: "he still remembers their meeting in Paris"; "there was a brief encounter in the hallway"
  • synonyms: meeting
• A casual meeting with a person or thing.
  • synonyms: coming upon
• A hostile disagreement face-to-face.
  • synonyms: confrontation, showdown, face-off

verb

• Come together.
  • usage: "I'll probably see you at the meeting"; "How nice to see you again"
  • synonyms: meet, run into, run across, come across, see
• Come upon, as if by accident; meet with.
  • usage: "We find this idea in Plato"; "I happened upon the most wonderful bakery not very far from here"; "She chanced upon an interesting book in the bookstore the other day"
  • synonyms: find, happen, chance, bump
• Be beset by.
  • usage: "The project ran into numerous financial difficulties"
  • synonyms: run into
• Experience as a reaction.
  • usage: "My proposal met with much opposition"
  • synonyms: meet, receive
• Contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle.
  • usage: "Princeton plays Yale this weekend"; "Charlie likes to play Mary"
  • synonyms: meet, play, take on