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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
to be conjoined or united.
-
to concur or agree.
-
to come together in opposition or conflict, as adversaries or hostile forces.
noun
-
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.
-
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
-
(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
-
(tr) to be apparent to (esp in the phrase meet the eye )
-
(tr) to return or counter
to meet a blow with another
-
to agree with (someone or each other)
we met him on the price he suggested
-
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:
The facility aims to meet the companies' growing demand for computing power to support its projects including developing AI and robotics technology over the coming years.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
"People are still saying it does not meet the threshold for remediation, that both angers me and saddens me," he added.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
Bonta indicated that he is still willing to meet with Paramount but not until they “put a lid on the leaks” and “engage in a way that is sincere.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Therefore, the states did not meet the injury required to bring their case at this time.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
It was Torak’s first ever clan meet, and it had been a disaster.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
If the future of filmmaking really is in the hands of those who can best define this dreary period of life, “It Ends” meets that challenge with an optimistic, tenacious flair movies have been missing.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Every month the group meets in a different city park to do yoga and meditate together, and they also come together for online meditation sessions over Zoom.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
It still must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which meets in September.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
A handful of sellers gather in front of the burnt-out shell offering tomatoes, cheese and cured meets on makeshift tables.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Which meets with the reply: ‘Imagine this is Rhodes. Jump here.’
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In a sixth-floor penthouse, the Future Fund team met with Bankman-Fried and the confidantes who would later testify against him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Rapper Eminem noted that even while he had never met Parton, she still made her mark on his life with a note she sent calling him "very special".
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Parton had met Dean outside a laundromat on the first day she arrived in Nashville as an 18-year-old aspiring singer.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The title was the name of a red-haired, green-eyed young fan Parton met signing autographs, and the story of a woman begging a rival to leave her man alone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Amazing that we first met four years earlier.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
The Chatham shop will be open to all Medway residents with no referral or membership required, and will provide a community meeting space.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reported "a very positive and productive meeting", saying on X he believes the "momentum will help pave the way for further progress and lasting peace in the region".
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Part of the appeal of the Camino is that no one can put a meeting on your calendar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Two of the group’s members, Doyoung and Jungwoo, are serving in the Korean military, so as of now there are only five members meeting with The Times for a recent interview.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
And now he really couldn’t tell them, not when they were already so freaked out by the meeting with Mr. Reardon.
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.
