ENCOUNTERING Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

encountering

verb

present participle of encounter

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

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

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of encountering After encountering Baumeister again the following year, Goodyear helped investigators obtain information that led them to identify Baumeister. — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 29 Aug. 2026 Itauma has described moving to England with his family as a child after encountering racist abuse. — ABC News, 28 Aug. 2026 Those encountering Diesel’s Parton cover this week with no context may not know that there’s a rich history of Diesel singing dead-serious torch songs. — Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone, 27 Aug. 2026 My authority came from encountering life in the High Atlas Mountains before the present replaced the past, slowly but surely, leaving only memory and story in its wake. — Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2026 At the same time, consumers may be encountering credit card surcharges more often at some retailers and service providers, experts say, which pushes up the total cost for paying by credit card. — Sarah Agostino, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026 His announcement comes as Venezuelan migrants are encountering increasingly restrictive immigration policies across the hemisphere. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 26 Aug. 2026 While suicide is always physically possible, there is a difference between recognizing that fact in the abstract and encountering death as an option presented by one’s physician. — Monika Piotrowska, STAT, 26 Aug. 2026 Existing screening schedules were built for the general population, not one encountering and experiencing on-job dangers at a higher rate. — Sen. Saud Anwar, Hartford Courant, 25 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for encountering

Verb

Blanche is also confronting growing distrust of the Justice Department among judges, who in multiple cases have accused government lawyers of withholding information or misleading courts.

— Alanna Durkin Richer, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
Trump may not be interested in confronting Xi, after spending so much of his first year in office in a trade war with China.

— Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of confronting

Verb

It’s mainly centered on Billie, who is worried about an old Facebook post standing in the way of finding a job.

— Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
Elevating a home can take several months, and while this project would foot the entire bill for elevation, the pot of cash does not cover the costs of finding another place to live during construction.

— Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of finding

Verb

Chancellor Julio Frenk announced the move Monday afternoon in an email to the UCLA community, framing the change around the financial challenges facing an athletic department trying to adapt to a rapidly changing college sports landscape.

— Ira Gorawara, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2026
From a retail perspective, Bryan Gildenberg, managing director of Retail Cities, pointed to the changing competitive landscape facing Shein.

— Jenny Lee, CNBC, 1 Sep. 2026

Definition of facing

Verb

Willy Kurniawan | Reuters Indonesia may have trouble meeting its economic-growth goals for the coming year, after spending 2026 on the defensive amid questions about fiscal outlays and the prospects of a downgrade from MSCI.

— Celestine Iyer, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026
The film’s audition introduced Hale to her future costar and now-husband Massagli, who recalled meeting her for the first time in a joint interview with Inside Edition in 2021.

— Kate Hogan, PEOPLE, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of meeting

Verb

There was no catching the Redhawks on this night with Hayes playing like a world-beater.

— Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2026
During the show, he was filmed skiing to the South Pole, catching a giant anaconda, milking a venomous tarantula and diving under the ice of the North Pole.

— Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of catching

Verb

To improve chances of a timely reply, patients should start messages by greeting their doctor by name, ideally including both first and last names.

— Paul Hsieh, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Job duties include greeting and assisting customers, operating cash registers, stocking shelves and cleaning the store.

— Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of greeting

Browse Nearby Words

encountered

encountering

encounters

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Encountering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/encountering. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of encountering

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

conscientious

Popular in Grammar & Usage

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Popular in Wordplay

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Games & Quizzes