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Assail vs Encounter - What's the difference?

assail | encounter | Related terms |

Assail is a related term of encounter.


As verbs the difference between assail and encounter

is that assail is to attack violently using words or force while encounter is to meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.

As a noun encounter is

an unplanned or unexpected meeting.

assail

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To attack violently using words or force.
  • Muggers assailed them as they entered an alley.
    For the next six months or so those children will assail her in public with demands for an improper story! (from H.H. Munro's short story, "The Storyteller").

    encounter

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete) * incounter (archaic) * incountre (obsolete)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.
  • To confront (someone or something) face to face.
  • (ambitransitive) To engage in conflict, as with an enemy.
  • Three armies encountered at Waterloo.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I will encounter with Andronicus.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unplanned or unexpected meeting.
  • :
  • *
  • *:That was Selwyn's first encounter with the Ruthvens. A short time afterward at the opera Gerald dragged him into a parterre to say something amiable to one of the amiable dĂ©butante Craig girls—and Selwyn found himself again facing Alixe.
  • A hostile meeting; a confrontation or skirmish.
  • A sudden, often violent clash, as between combatants.
  • (label) A match between two opposing sides.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 29, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal , passage=Andre Santos equalised and the outstanding Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead for the first time before Juan Mata's spectacular strike set up the finale for an enthralling encounter .}}

    Synonyms

    * (unplanned meeting ): * (hostile meeting ): clash, confrontation, brush, skirmish

    Derived terms

    * close encounter * encounter group