meet
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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meets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
met,
past participle, past
-
meeting
present participle
-
to come upon; come into the presence of; encounter.
I would meet him on the street at unexpected moments.
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to become acquainted with; be introduced to.
I've never met your cousin.
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to join at an agreed or designated place or time.
Meet me in St. Louis.
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to be present at the arrival of.
to meet a train.
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to come to or before (one's notice, or a means of noticing, as the eyes or ears).
A peculiar sight met my eyes.
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to come into the company of (a person, group, etc.) in dealings, conference, etc.
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to face, eye, etc., directly or without avoidance.
- Synonyms:
- confront
-
to come into physical contact, juxtaposition, or collision with.
The two cars met each other head-on at high speed.
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to encounter in opposition, conflict, or contest.
Harvard meets Yale next week in football.
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to oppose.
to meet charges with countercharges.
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to cope or deal effectively with (an objection, difficulty, etc.).
-
to comply with; fulfill; answer.
to meet a deadline;
to meet a demand.
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to pay in full.
How will you meet expenses?
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to come into conformity with (wishes, expectations, views, etc.).
-
to encounter in experience.
to meet hostility.
verb (used without object)
-
meets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
met,
past participle, past
-
meeting
present participle
-
to come together, face to face, or into company.
We met on the street.
-
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
-
to become personally acquainted.
-
to come into contact or form a junction, as lines, planes, or areas.
The two lines meet to form an angle.
- Antonyms:
- diverge
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to be conjoined or united.
-
to concur or agree.
-
to come together in opposition or conflict, as adversaries or hostile forces.
noun
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meets
plural
-
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
-
those assembled.
-
the place of such an assembling.
-
Mathematics. intersection.
verb phrase
idioms
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meet halfway,
-
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.
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to anticipate another's actions and conduct oneself accordingly.
-
-
well met, welcome.
-
meet cute, cute.
adjective
verb
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to come together (with), either by design or by accident; encounter
I met him unexpectedly
we met at the station
-
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
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(tr) to come to or be at the place of arrival of
to meet a train
-
to make the acquaintance of or be introduced to (someone or each other)
have you two met?
-
to gather in the company of (someone or each other)
the board of directors meets on Tuesday
-
to come into the presence of (someone or each other) as opponents
Joe meets Fred in the boxing match
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(tr) to cope with effectively; satisfy
to meet someone's demands
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(tr) to be apparent to (esp in the phrase meet the eye )
-
(tr) to return or counter
to meet a blow with another
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to agree with (someone or each other)
we met him on the price he suggested
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to experience; suffer
he met his death in a road accident
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to occur together
courage and kindliness met in him
-
(tr) to find (a person, situation, etc) in a specified condition
I met the door open
-
(of a celebrity, politician, etc) to have a session of being introduced to and questioned by members of the public or journalists
noun
-
the assembly of hounds, huntsmen, etc, prior to a hunt
-
a meeting, esp a sports meeting
-
the place where the paths of two railway trains meet or cross
-
a session where a celebrity, etc, is introduced to or questioned by members of the public or journalists
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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meetsimple
-
meetssimple
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have metperfect
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has metperfect
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am meetingprogressive
-
are meetingprogressive
-
is meetingprogressive
-
have been meetingperfect progressive
-
has been meetingperfect progressive
Past
-
metsimple
-
had metperfect
-
was meetingprogressive
-
were meetingprogressive
-
had been meetingperfect progressive
Future
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; see moot
Origin of meet2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English mete, meete, mette, from Old English gemǣte “suitable,” cognate with German gemäss “suitable, appropriate”
Explanation
Meet means to interact in some way. You can meet someone at a party, you can meet another team in a game. There are many ways to meet. You can meet with tragedy, which means to have something awful happen to you. You can meet the needs of others, which means you give them what they need. You can meet expectations on the state exam, which means you do as well as you need to pass. You can meet your friends at the mall. When you see the word meet, there’s usually a connection being made.
Vocabulary lists containing meet
"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 5
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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.
See Examples For:
Leaders from the 27-nation bloc will meet in Brussels next week to discuss the plan as they seek to reach an agreement on the 2028-2034 budget by Christmas.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
Then, on the afternoon the father and son were due to meet, a social worker approached Chris.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
In the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where California’s biggest rivers meet, the state’s massive pumps send water flowing into canals to about 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
In their ideal form, fraternities are social clubs where students come together, meet each other and form lifelong bonds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
But now that I’m headed down to the basement to meet with Grandma again, it is back, and in full force.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
OPEC+’s monitoring committee, which meets Sunday, might leave production policy unchanged while security around Middle East supply flows remains uncertain, the analysts said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
A sort of “Beef” meets “The Good Wife” or “The Good Fight,” or whatever legal drama you prefer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
"Having a fleet that meets our needs at both national and European levels... is essential," he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
The animals were mostly found in the Brentford Lock basin, where the Grand Union Canal meets the River Thames.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
The ride home from meets is always a snore compared to the ride in.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
"I met my wife in Jessops in one of the shops," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Once the lines met, the nation would be joined from coast to coast.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The company alerted the department on October 7, and the two sides met the following day.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
I have not met a man while walking down Main Street, although I remain open to the possibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
When Joey gets there, she is met by her friend’s husband.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It is 06:00 and I'm meeting drone pilot Pete Short for a dawn patrol in the Cairngorms National Park.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Unusually for Vance on the campaign trail, he then went down to greet the crowd in person -- shaking hands, patting arms and meeting the lady with the black pro-Vance hat.
From Barron's ● Oct. 10, 2026
Later conjecture suggested the kill switch/ignition mechanism had been damaged while the machine was on display at a dealers’ meeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
On Thursday, Arias said at a City Council meeting that the timing of the arrests was “not a coincidence” because it is harvest season in Fresno, a major agricultural hub.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
Katherine had thrown a fit when Mom and Dad had told her about the meeting, about how she’d have to be home alone for a little bit while they were away with Jonah.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
