Approach vs Encounter - What's the difference?

In transitive terms the difference between approach and encounter

is that approach is to come near to in place, time, character, or value; to draw nearer to while encounter is to confront (someone or something) face to face.

As verbs the difference between approach and encounter

is that approach is to come or go near, in place or time; to draw nigh; to advance nearer while encounter is to meet (someone) or find (something) unexpectedly.

As nouns the difference between approach and encounter

is that approach is the act of drawing near; a coming or advancing near while encounter is an unplanned or unexpected meeting.

approach

English

Verb

(es)

To come or go near, in place or time; to draw nigh; to advance nearer.

* 1769 , Oxford Standard text, , xi, 20,

And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

* 1769 , Oxford Standard text, , x, 25,

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching .

(figuratively) To draw near, in a figurative sense; to make advances; to approximate.

as he approaches to the character of the ablest statesman.

* 1839 , , A Tour in Sweden in 1838 , page 371,

Without these incentives to industry the Norwegian would be like the Laplander, without industry and civilisation ; and the nearer he approaches' to the ''beau idéal'' of those political economists — to the state of being without a taste for these foreign and expensive luxuries — the nearer he ' approaches to the condition of the Laplander in the comforts and enjoyments of life.

* 1898 , , The Works , Volume 11, 2006, Elibron Classics Replica Edition, page 205,

In this respect, the only books which approach to its excellence are Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe.

To come near to in place, time, character or value; to draw nearer to.

He was an admirable poet, and thought even to have approached Homer. -- .

"Would counsel please approach the bench?" asked the judge.

to approach the city

He approached the age of manhood.

Don't approach that house.

* 1831 , , Volume 1, The American Redstart,

When one approaches the nest of this species, the male exhibits the greatest anxiety respecting its safety, passes and repasses, fluttering and snapping its bill within a few feet, as if determined to repel the intruder.

* 1867 , , Chapter 53: And Last,

Removing with him and the old housekeeper to within a mile of the parsonage-house, where his dear friends resided, he gratified the only remaining wish of Oliver's warm and earnest heart, and thus linked together a little society, whose condition approached as nearly to one of perfect happiness as can ever be known in this changing world.

* 1898 , , Book 1, Chapter 1: The Eve of the War,

Its physical condition is still largely a mystery, but we know now that even in its equatorial region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest winter.

* 1911 [1904], , Chapter III,

If a variable $v$ takes on successively a series of values that approach' nearer and nearer to a constant value $l$ in such a manner that $, v - l,$ ^{[To be read ''the numerical value of the difference between'' $v$ ''and'' $l$ ]} becomes and remains less than any assigned arbitrarily small positive quantity, then $v$ is said to '''''approach the limit'' $l$ , or to ''converge to the limit $l$ . Symbolically this is written

*:: limit $v = l$ , or, $v \dot= l$ .

*::: Usage note: In discussing convergence in mathematical analysis, modern rigorous formulations avoid using the terms approach'' and ''converge . These terms may, however, serve as a form of handwave when rigour is not required.

To make an attempt at (solving a problem or making a policy).

* 1922 , , Chapter II,

And it was with decision that he approached the problem of his wrecked shop.

To speak to, as to make a request or ask a question.

* 1988 Dinesh Vaghela, Publisher's Note'', in , Dinesh Publications, [http://www.well.com/user/jct/],

"Why bother publishing my conversations. It has not helped you, and it is not going to help anybody else", said U.G. when I approached him with the idea of publishing excerpts from his conversations with the constant stream of people who go to visit him.

(military) To take approaches to.

To bring near; to cause to draw near.

(Boyle)

Noun

(es)

The act of drawing near; a coming or advancing near.

* 1811 , , Sermons , Volume 1, page 10,

The approach of summer, says our Lord, is not more surely indicated by the first appearances of spring, than the final destruction of the wicked by the beginnings of vengeance on this impenitent people.

* 1859 , , On the Classification and Geographical Distribution of the Mammalia , page 85,

The canine, judging from the figures published by M. Lartet¹ seems to be less developed than in the male chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans[,] [i]n which character the fossil, if it belonged to a male, makes a nearer approach to the human type ; but it is one which many of the inferior monkeys also exhibit, and is by no means to be trusted as significant of true affinity, supposing even the sex of the fossil to be known as being male.

An access, or opportunity of drawing near.

* 1625 (date from Markby), , Of Ambition'', reprinted in 1856, Thomas Markby (editor), ''The Essays; or, Counsels Civil and Moral with A table of the Colours of Good and Evil , page 84,

Honor hath three things in it: the vantage ground to do good; the approach to kings and principal persons; and the raising of a man's own fortunes.

Movements to gain favor; advances.

A way, passage, or avenue by which a place or buildings can be approached; an access.

* 1900 , ,

It was, therefore, natural to expect that the main attack would come from the north along the railroad, and from the east, where the approach from the Transvaal boundary, which is there marked by the Buffalo River, is over a country much more practicable than the western mountain range.

A manner in which a problem is solved or policy is made.

* 1787 , , Annotations to Article 1, Section 1,

The functional approach' emphasizes the core functions of each branch and asks whether the challenged action threatens the essential attributes of the legislative, executive, or judicial function or functions. Under this ' approach , there is considerable flexibility in the moving branch, usually Congress acting to make structural or institutional change, if there is little significant risk of impairment of a core function or in the case of such a risk if there is a compelling reason for the action.

* 1980 , , Final Decision, IV: Comments,

Our proposed definitional approach to the data processing-communications dilemma evoked considerable discussion.

* 1980 , , Opinion of the Court,

Its [the EPA's] initial approach to controlling the amount of lead in the ambient air was to limit lead emissions from automobiles by restricting the amount of lead in gasoline.

* 1991', Carol Lee Johnston, Jeanne Lazaris, ''Plane Trigonometry, A New '''Approach .

(used only in the plural, fortification) The advanced works, trenches, or covered roads made by besiegers in their advances toward a fortress or military post.

(golf, tennis) An approach shot.

The way an aircraft lands at an airport.

* 2007 , , Glider Flying Handbook , page 2-9,

Most small airplanes maintain a speed well in excess of 1.3 times V_SO on an instrument approach'. An airplane with a stall speed of 50 knots (V_SO) has a normal ' approach speed of 65 knots.

(bowling) The area before the lane, in which a player may stand or run up before bowling the ball.

References

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 débutante 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