Meet Definition & Meaning

American

British

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Etymology

Examples

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Synonyms meet 1 American [meet] / mit /

verb (used with object)

met, meeting

1. to come upon; come into the presence of; encounter.

   I would meet him on the street at unexpected moments.

2. to become acquainted with; be introduced to.

   I've never met your cousin.

3. to join at an agreed or designated place or time.

   Meet me in St. Louis.

4. to be present at the arrival of.

   to meet a train.

5. to come to or before (one's notice, or a means of noticing, as the eyes or ears).

   A peculiar sight met my eyes.

6. to come into the company of (a person, group, etc.) in dealings, conference, etc.

7. to face, eye, etc., directly or without avoidance.

   Synonyms: confront

8. to come into physical contact, juxtaposition, or collision with.

   The two cars met each other head-on at high speed.

   Synonyms: unite, couple, cross, intersect, connect, join

9. to encounter in opposition, conflict, or contest.

   Harvard meets Yale next week in football.

10. to oppose.

    to meet charges with countercharges.

11. to cope or deal effectively with (an objection, difficulty, etc.).

12. to comply with; fulfill; answer.

    to meet a deadline;

    to meet a demand.

13. to pay in full.

    How will you meet expenses?

14. to come into conformity with (wishes, expectations, views, etc.).

15. to encounter in experience.

    to meet hostility.

verb (used without object)

met, meeting

1. to come together, face to face, or into company.

   We met on the street.

2. to assemble for action, conference, or other common purpose, as a committee, legislature, or class.

   The board of directors will meet on Tuesday.

   Synonyms: collect Antonyms: scatter, adjourn

3. to become personally acquainted.

4. to come into contact or form a junction, as lines, planes, or areas.

   The two lines meet to form an angle.

   Antonyms: diverge

5. to be conjoined or united.

6. to concur or agree.

7. to come together in opposition or conflict, as adversaries or hostile forces.

noun

1. an assembly, as of persons and hounds for a hunt or swimmers or runners for a race or series of races.

   a track meet.

   Synonyms: competition, contest

2. those assembled.

3. the place of such an assembling.

4. Mathematics. intersection.

verb phrase

1. meet with

   1. to come across; encounter.

      to meet with opposition.

   2. to experience; undergo; receive.

      The visitors met with courtesy during their stay.

   3. to join, as for conference or instruction.

      I met with her an hour a day until we solved the problem.

idioms

1. meet halfway,

   1. to concede in part, as to the demands of an opposing faction; make concessions, as to another person; compromise.

      Despite their differences, the union and the company finally agreed to meet halfway and settle their dispute.

   2. to anticipate another's actions and conduct oneself accordingly.

2. well met, welcome.

3. meet cute, cute.

meet 2 American [meet] / mit /

adjective

Archaic.

1. suitable; fitting; proper.

   Synonyms: appropriate, apt

meet 1 British / miːt /

verb

1. to come together (with), either by design or by accident; encounter

   I met him unexpectedly

   we met at the station

2. to come into or be in conjunction or contact with (something or each other)

   the roads meet in the town

   the sea meets the sky

3. (tr) to come to or be at the place of arrival of

   to meet a train

4. to make the acquaintance of or be introduced to (someone or each other)

   have you two met?

5. to gather in the company of (someone or each other)

   the board of directors meets on Tuesday

6. to come into the presence of (someone or each other) as opponents

   Joe meets Fred in the boxing match

7. (tr) to cope with effectively; satisfy

   to meet someone's demands

8. (tr) to be apparent to (esp in the phrase meet the eye )

9. (tr) to return or counter

   to meet a blow with another

10. to agree with (someone or each other)

    we met him on the price he suggested

11. to experience; suffer

    he met his death in a road accident

12. to occur together

    courage and kindliness met in him

13. (tr) to find (a person, situation, etc) in a specified condition

    I met the door open

14. (of a celebrity, politician, etc) to have a session of being introduced to and questioned by members of the public or journalists

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

1. the assembly of hounds, huntsmen, etc, prior to a hunt

2. a meeting, esp a sports meeting

3. the place where the paths of two railway trains meet or cross

4. a session where a celebrity, etc, is introduced to or questioned by members of the public or journalists

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 meet 2 British / miːt /

adjective

1. archaic proper, fitting, or correct

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 meet More Idioms

More idioms and phrases containing meet

• go (meet) halfway
• make ends meet
• more than meets the eye

Other Word Forms

• meeter noun
• meetly adverb
• meetness noun

Etymology

Origin of meet1

First recorded before 900; Middle English mete(n), miete(n), Old English (ge)mētan; cognate with Old Norse mœta, Old Saxon mōtian; moot

Origin of meet2

First recorded before 1000; Middle English mete, meete, mette, from Old English gemǣte “suitable,” cognate with German gemäss “suitable, appropriate”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Economists think the U.S. economy has become more “K-shaped” since the summer, with rich households doing the bulk of the consumer spending while lower-income workers have struggled to make ends meet.

From MarketWatch

Legal and administrative systems have for decades treated a postmark as evidence of when an individual met a deadline.

From The Wall Street Journal

After Hammel-Sawyer’s first marriage ended, she worked as an assistant children’s librarian in Santa Barbara and met a reference librarian named Ben Sawyer.

From Los Angeles Times

“I never really thought when I was cutting tobacco in Augusta, Ky., that I would meet Paul, much less become friends with him,” Clooney says.

From Los Angeles Times

Have you met or worked with Carol before?

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• appear
• gather
• join
• open
• show
• sit

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.