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Encounter vs Visit - What's the difference?

encounter | visit |

In transitive terms the difference between encounter and visit

is that encounter is to confront (someone or something) face to face while visit is to go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.

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

    visit

    English

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  • * Bible, (w) i. 68
  • [God] hath visited and redeemed his people.
  • * 1611 , Bible , Authorized (King James) Version, (w) I.6:
  • Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.
  • To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  • (intransitive) To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability.
  • * 1788 , (Edward Gibbon), (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) , volume 68:
  • Her life was spared by the clemency of the emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace.
  • Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone).
  • * 1890 , (James George Frazer), (The Golden Bough) :
  • There used to be a sharp contest as to where the effigy was to be made, for the people thought that the house from which it was carried forth would not be visited with death that year.
  • To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) (on) or (upon) someone.
  • * 2011 , John Mullan, The Guardian , 2 Dec 2011:
  • If this were an Ibsen play, we would be thinking of the sins of one generation being visited upon another, he said.
  • To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)
  • To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.
  • * , chapter=19
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A single act of .
  • *{{quote-book, year=1899, author=(Stephen Crane)
  • , title=, chapter=1 , passage=There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […].”}}
  • A meeting with a doctor at their surgery or the doctor's at one's home.
  • Derived terms

    * conjugal visit * flying visit * visitation * visitor

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----