meet - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mēt, IPA(key): /miːt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /mit/
- Rhymes: -iːt
- Homophones: meat, mete
From Middle English meten, from Old English mētan (“to meet, find, encounter”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōtijan (“to meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to come, meet”).
Cognates:
Cognate with Scots met, mete, meit (“to meet”), North Frisian mete (“to meet”), West Frisian mette, moetsje (“to meet”), Dutch ontmoeten (“to meet”), Low German möten (“to meet”), Danish møde (“to meet”), Norwegian Bokmål møte (“to meet”), Swedish möta (“to meet”), Icelandic mæta (“to meet”). Related to moot.
meet (third-person singular simple present meets, present participle meeting, simple past and past participle met)
- To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.
- To come face to face with by accident; to encounter.
Fancy meeting you here! Guess who I met at the supermarket today?
1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:
Yesterday, upon the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away […]
- To come face to face with someone by arrangement.
Let's meet at the station at 9 o'clock.
- To get acquainted with someone.
I'm pleased to meet you! I'd like you to meet a colleague of mine.
I met my husband through a mutual friend at a party. It wasn't love at first sight; in fact, we couldn't stand each other at first!
1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
- To come face to face with by accident; to encounter.
- (Of groups) To come together.
- To gather for a formal or social discussion; to hold a meeting.
I met with them several times. The government ministers met today to start the negotiations.
1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
- To come together in conflict.
1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
Weapons more violent, when next we meet,
May serve to better us and worse our foes.
2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners.
- (sports) To play a match.
England and Holland will meet in the final.
- To gather for a formal or social discussion; to hold a meeting.
- To make physical or perceptual contact.
- To converge and finally touch or intersect.
The two streets meet at a crossroad half a mile away.
1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do
- To touch or hit something while moving.
The right wing of the car met the column in the garage, leaving a dent.
- To adjoin, be physically touching.
The carpet meets the wall at this side of the room. The forest meets the sea along this part of the coast.
- (transitive) To respond to (an argument etc.) with something equally convincing; to refute.
- He met every objection to the trip with another reason I should go.
- To converge and finally touch or intersect.
- To satisfy; to comply with.
This proposal meets my requirements. The company agrees to meet the cost of any repairs.
2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
- (intransitive) To balance or come out correct.
- 1967, Northern Ireland. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) House of Commons Official Report
- In this instance he has chosen an accountant. I suppose that it will be possible for an accountant to make the figures meet.
- 1967, Northern Ireland. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) House of Commons Official Report
- To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.
The eye met a horrid sight. He met his fate.
1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XXIII, page 40:
[…] And all we met was fair and good,
And all was good that Time could bring, […]
- To be mixed with, to be combined with aspects of.
In the sense "come face to face with someone by arrangement", meet is sometimes used with the preposition with. Nonetheless, some state that as a transitive verb in the context "to come together by chance or arrangement", meet (as in meet (someone)) does not require a preposition between verb and object; the phrase meet with (someone) is deemed incorrect. See also meet with.
- boy meets girl
- counter-meet
- hail-fellow-well-met
- hail fellow well met
- have you met me
- make both ends meet
- make ends meet
- meet and greet
- meet-and-greet
- meet a sticky end
- meet cute, meet-cute
- meet halfway
- meet-meat merger
- meet-me room
- meet one's doom
- meet one's end
- meet one's maker
- meet one's match
- meet one's Waterloo
- meet someone where they are
- meet up
- meet with
- more than meets the eye
- never meet your heroes
- never the twain shall meet
- nice to meet you
- one should never meet one's heroes
- pleased to meet you
- the rubber meets the road
- until we meet again
- well met
- when two Sundays meet
to come face to face with by accident; to encounter
- Adyghe: ӏукӏэн (ʼwukʼɛn)
- Afrikaans: ontmoet (af)
- American Sign Language: 1@FromThumb-FingerUp-1@CenterChesthigh-FingerUp 1@Thumb-FingerUp-1@CenterChesthigh-FingerUp
- Arabic: لَاقَى (ar) (lāqā), لَقِيَ (ar) (laqiya), اِلْتَقَى (ar) (iltaqā)
- Armenian: հանդիպել (hy) (handipel)
- Aromanian: andãmusescu, astãhisescu, alãhãescu, astalj, mi-adun, mi-aflu, cunushtusescu, stãvrusescu, mpichi
- Azerbaijani: rast gəlmək
- Belarusian: сустрака́ць impf (sustrakácʹ), сустрэ́ць pf (sustrécʹ)
- Bulgarian: сре́щам (bg) (sréštam), сре́щна (bg) pf (sréštna)
- Burmese: တွေ့ (my) (twe.)
- Catalan: trobar-se (ca) (amb)
- Chechen: кхета (qeta)
- Chinese:
- Czech: potkat (cs), potkávat impf
- Dalmatian: encontrur
- Danish: møde (da), træffe (da)
- Dutch: ontmoeten (nl), treffen (nl)
- Esperanto: renkonti
- Estonian: kohtama
- Ewe: tu
- Finnish: tavata (fi), kohdata (fi)
- French: rencontrer (fr)
- Galician: atopar (gl), encontrar (gl)
- Georgian: აწყდება (ac̣q̇deba), წააწყდება (c̣aac̣q̇deba), გადააწყდება (gadaac̣q̇deba), გადაეყრება (gadaeq̇reba)
- German: treffen (de), begegnen (de)
- Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐍉𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gamōtjan)
- Greek: συναντώ (el) (synantó)
- Ancient: ἀπαντάω (apantáō)
- Gujarati: મળવું (maḷvũ)
- Hindi: (से) मिलना ((se) milnā)
- Hungarian: találkozik (hu)
- Indonesian: bertemu, menemui (id)
- Ingrian: vassata
- Italian: incontrare (it)
- Japanese: 会う (ja) (あう, au), 遭遇する (そうぐうする, sōgū suru), 遭う (ja) (あう, au) (negative encounter), お目にかかる (おめにかかる, o-me ni kakaru) (humble)
- Javanese: pranggul, mrangguli (jv), ketemu (jv)
- Kabardian: ӏущӏэн (kbd) (ʼwuśʼɛn)
- Khmer: ប៉ះ (km) (pah), ប្រចួប (km) (prɑcuəp)
- Korean: 만나다 (ko) (mannada), 뵙다 (ko) (boepda) (humble)
- Ladino: renkontrar, arrenkontrar
- Latin: occurrō, nanciscor, coeō
- Latvian: sagaidīt
- Lithuanian: sutikti (lt), susitikti
- Macedonian: сре́ќава (sréḱava)
- Malay: bertemu, terjumpa
- Maori: tūtaki, tūtaki
- Megleno-Romanian: nuib
- Ngazidja Comorian: uhondrana na
- Norman: rencontrer
- Norwegian:
- Occitan: encontrar (oc)
- Persian: دیدار کردن (fa) (didâr kardan)
- Polish: spotykać (pl) impf, spotkać (pl) pf
- Portuguese: encontrar (pt)
- Romanian: a întâlni
- Russian: встреча́ть (ru) impf (vstrečátʹ), встре́тить (ru) pf (vstrétitʹ)
- Sanskrit: आप्नोति (āpnóti)
- Scottish Gaelic: tachair
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Slovak: stretnúť (sk) pf, stretať impf, stretávať impf
- Slovene: srečati
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: zmakaś pf
- Spanish: encontrar (es), encontrarse (es) con
- Swahili: kukutana
- Swedish: träffa (sv), råka (sv)
- Tagalog: magtagpô
- Telugu: కలుసుకొను (kalusukonu)
- Thai: หา (th) (hǎa), พบ (th) (póp), เจอ (th) (jəə), ประสบ (th) (bprà-sòp), เจอกัน (jəə-gan), พบกัน (póp-gan)
- Tok Pisin: bungim
- Turkish: karşılaşmak (tr), rastlamak (tr), rastlaşmak (tr)
- Tày: cáp, chập, ngộ, phúng, thuông
- Ukrainian: зустріча́ти impf (zustričáty), зустрі́ти pf (zustríty)
- Urdu: ... سے ملنا (... (se) milnā)
- Vietnamese: gặp (vi)
- Welsh: cwrdd (â), cyfarfod (â)
- Yiddish: טרעפֿן (trefn)
to come face to face with someone by arrangement
- Afrikaans: ontmoet (af)
- Arabic: اِلْتَقَى (ar) (iltaqā), تَقَابَلَ (taqābala)
- Armenian: հանդիպել (hy) (handipel)
- Azerbaijani: görüşmək (az)
- Basque: batzar egin
- Bulgarian: срещам се (sreštam se)
- Catalan: quedar (ca)
- Chickasaw: ittafama
- Chinese:
- Czech: sejít se, setkat se
- Danish: mødes
- Dutch: afspreken (nl), treffen (nl)
- Esperanto: kunveni, renkontiĝi
- Ewe: kpe
- Finnish: tavata (fi)
- French: se retrouver, se rejoindre, se donner rendez-vous
- Georgian: ხვდება (xvdeba), შეხვდება (šexvdeba)
- German: treffen (de)
- Greek: συναντώ (el) (synantó), συναντιέμαι (el) (synantiémai)
- Ancient Greek: ἐντυγχάνω (entunkhánō) (+ dative)
- Hungarian: találkozik (hu), (someone arriving at a destination) megvár (hu), fogad (hu), kimegy elé
- Ingrian: vassata
- Italian: incontrare (it)
- Japanese: 待ち合わせる (ja) (machiawaseru)
- Khmer: ជួប (cuəp)
- Latin: occurro, oppetō, coeo, conveniō (la)
- Malay: berjumpa
- Norwegian:
- Polish: spotykać się impf, spotkać się pf, widzieć się impf, zobaczyć się pf
- Portuguese: encontrar (pt)
- Quechua: tariy
- Romanian: a întâlni
- Russian: встреча́ть (ru) impf (vstrečátʹ), встре́тить (ru) pf (vstrétitʹ), знако́миться (ru) impf (znakómitʹsja), познако́миться (ru) pf (poznakómitʹsja)
- Scottish Gaelic: tachair
- Shan: ႁူပ်ႉထူပ်း (shn) (hṵ̂up thúup)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: zmakaś pf
- Spanish: encontrarse (es), quedar (es)
- Swahili: kukutana
- Swedish: träffa (sv), möta (sv)
- Tagalog: magkita
- Telugu: ఏర్పాటు (te) (ērpāṭu)
- Tok Pisin: bungim
- Turkish: buluşmak (tr)
- Welsh: cwrdd (â), cyfarfod (â)
- Yoruba: pàdé
to get acquainted with
- Arabic: تَعَرَّفَ (taʕarrafa)
- Armenian: ծանոթանալ (hy) (canotʻanal)
- Azerbaijani: tanış olmaq (az)
- Bulgarian: запознавам се (zapoznavam se)
- Burmese: တွေ့ (my) (twe.)
- Catalan: conèixer (ca)
- Chinese:
- Czech: seznámit se (cs) pf
- Danish: møde (da)
- Dutch: ontmoeten (nl), leren kennen
- Esperanto: ekkoni
- Finnish: tutustua (fi)
- French: rencontrer (fr), faire la connaissance de
- Georgian: იცნობს (icnobs), გაიცნობს (gaicnobs)
- German: kennen lernen (de)
- Greek: γνωρίζω (el) (gnorízo)
- Hungarian: megismerkedik (hu), megismer (hu)
- Italian: conoscere (it)
- Norman: rencontrer
- Polish: poznawać (pl) impf, poznać (pl) pf
- Portuguese: conhecer (pt)
- Russian: знако́миться (ru) impf (znakómitʹsja), познако́миться (ru) pf (poznakómitʹsja)
- Spanish: conocer (es)
- Swedish: träffas (sv), mötas (sv)
- Turkish: tanışmak (tr)
- Vietnamese: làm quen (vi)
to come together in conflict
- Bulgarian: сблъсквам се (sblǎskvam se)
- Chickasaw: ittafama
- Dutch: elkander ontmoeten
- Finnish: kohdata (fi)
- French: (s’)affronter, se rencontrer
- Georgian: ებრძოლება (ebrʒoleba), შეებრძოლება (šeebrʒoleba), ეტაკება (eṭaḳeba), შეეტაკება (šeeṭaḳeba)
- German: aufeinandertreffen, zusammenstoßen (de)
- Hungarian: szembeszáll (hu), szembenéz (hu), dacol (hu)
- Ngazidja Comorian: uhondrana
- Russian: ста́лкиваться (ru) (stálkivatʹsja), столкну́ться (ru) (stolknútʹsja)
sport: to play a match
to converge and finally touch or intersect
- Afrikaans: ontmoet (af)
- Chinese:
- Czech: setkat se
- Danish: mødes
- Dutch: raken (nl)
- Ewe: kpe
- Finnish: kohdata (fi)
- French: se rejoindre
- Galician: atopar (gl)
- German: treffen (de)
- Greek: συναντιέμαι (el) (synantiémai)
- Hungarian: találkozik (hu), keresztez (hu), kereszteződik (hu), metsz (hu), összefut (hu)
- Italian: incontrarsi (it)
- Latin: occurro
- Portuguese: encontrar (pt)
- Romanian: a se atinge
- Russian: сходи́ться (ru) impf (sxodítʹsja), сойти́сь (ru) pf (sojtísʹ), пересека́ться (ru) impf (peresekátʹsja), пересе́чься (ru) pf (pereséčʹsja) (converge and cross)
- Scottish Gaelic: tachair
- Spanish: encontrarse (es)
- Swahili: kukutana
- Swedish: möta (sv)
- Telugu: కలుసుకొను (kalusukonu)
- Turkish: kesişmek (tr)
- Welsh: cwrdd (â)
to touch or hit something while moving
to adjoin; be physically touching
- Bulgarian: срещам се (sreštam se)
- Finnish: kohdata (fi)
- French: rejoindre (fr)
- Galician: atopar (gl)
- Georgian: ერთდება (ertdeba), შეერთდება (šeertdeba), მიუერთდება (miuertdeba)
- German: treffen (de)
- Greek: συναντώ (el) (synantó)
- Hungarian: érintkezik (hu), összeér (hu), hozzáér (hu), ér (hu)
- Russian: соединя́ться (ru) impf (sojedinjátʹsja), соедини́ться (ru) pf (sojedinítʹsja)
to respond to (an argument etc.) with something equally convincing; to refute — see refute
to satisfy; to comply with
- Azerbaijani: qarşılamaq (az)
- Czech: splnit (cs), vyhovět pf, splňovat impf, vyhovovat (cs) impf, uspokojit (cs) pf
- Danish: opfylde (da)
- Dutch: overeenstemmen met, beantwoorden aan, vervullen (nl)
- Finnish: vastata ...-Vn (illative case)
- French: satisfaire (fr), (cost) prendre en charge (fr)
- German: entsprechen (de), gerechtwerden, nachkommen (de)
- Hungarian: megfelel (hu), eleget tesz (hu), kielégít (hu), (costs) fedez (hu), visel (hu), teljesít (hu), kifizet (hu), (deadline) tart (hu)
- Italian: ottemperare (it), conformarsi (it), soddisfare (it)
- Latin: satisfacio
- Maori: whakahei
- Portuguese: satisfazer (pt)
- Romanian: a raspunde (la)
- Russian: отвеча́ть (ru) impf (otvečátʹ)
- Spanish: llenar (es), satisfacer (es), cumplir con
- Swedish: uppfylla (sv)
- Turkish: karşılamak (tr)
- Welsh: cwrdd (â)
to balance or come out correct
to perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer
meet (plural meets)
- (sports) A sports competition, especially for track and field or swimming.
swim meet
2009, Alexandria Mangas, Janet Hommel Mangas, Oxygen for the Swimmer, Xulon Press, →ISBN, page 91:
Everyone has to experience their first swim meet. They have to get through their first race, their first DQ (disqualification), and their first miss/scratch of an event. Like all swimmers, my first swim meet was nerve-wracking.
- (hunting) A gathering of riders, horses and hounds for foxhunting; a field meet for hunting.
- (rail transport) A meeting of two trains in opposite directions on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other cross.
- Antonym: pass
- (informal) A meeting.
OK, let's arrange a meet with Tyler and ask him.
2002, George Pelecanos, “Cleaning Up”, in The Wire, season 1, episode 12 (television production):
You feel me? You use these phones to set up a meet, go to that meet… and talk face to face, period.
2004, Matthew Weiner, “Rat Pack”, in The Sopranos, season 5, episode 2 (television production):
So what do you wanna do? I wanna be absolutely fucking sure. That's what I wanna do. We arrange a meet. I'll feel him out a little bit.
2012 February 23, Joe Kloc, “The Case of the Missing Moon Rocks”, in Wired[1], →ISSN:
Rosen assured Cregger that he had left no paper trail in bringing the rock into the States. Pretending to be reassured, Cregger agreed to a location for a meet: Tuna’s, a small restaurant and margarita bar off West Dixie highway in North Miami Beach.
- (algebra) The greatest lower bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol ∧.
- Antonym: join
From Middle English mete, imete, from Old English ġemǣte (“suitable, having the same measurements”), from the Proto-Germanic *gamētijaz, *mētiz (“reasonable; estimable”) (cognate with Dutch meten (“measure”), German gemäß (“suitable”) etc.), itself from collective prefix *ga- + Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).
meet (comparative meeter, superlative meetest)
- (archaic) Suitable; right; proper.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 311:
It ſeemes not meete, nor wholeſome to my place, / To be producted, (as, if I ſtay, I ſhall,) / Againſt the Moore. […]
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXVII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 131:
[…] it is therefore but meet, that in this place we set down who the Pequod's harpooneers were, and to what headsman each of them belonged.
- (obselete) Submissive; passive.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “meet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- “meet”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
meet f (plural meten, diminutive meetje n)
- the finish line in a competition
meet
- inflection of meten:
meet
meet
meet
- Alternative form of mete (“food”)