rendezvous
Americannoun
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an agreement between two or more persons to meet at a certain time and place.
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the meeting itself.
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a place designated for a meeting or assembling, especially of troops or ships.
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a meeting of two or more spacecraft in outer space.
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a favorite or popular gathering place.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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a meeting or appointment to meet at a specified time and place
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a place where people meet
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an arranged meeting of two spacecraft
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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rendezvoussimple
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have rendezvousedperfect
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has rendezvousedperfect
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am rendezvousingprogressive
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are rendezvousingprogressive
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is rendezvousingprogressive
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have been rendezvousingperfect progressive
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has been rendezvousingperfect progressive
Past
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rendezvousedsimple
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had rendezvousedperfect
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was rendezvousingprogressive
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were rendezvousingprogressive
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had been rendezvousingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rendezvous
1585–95; < Middle French, noun use of rendez-vous (imperative) present or betake yourselves; see render 1
Explanation
Rendezvous is a very French way to say "meeting" or "date." So go ahead and call your next dentist appointment or lunch date with friends a rendezvous. In the 1590s, rendezvous meant “a place for assembling of troops.” And you'll still hear military tacticians talking about "rendezvous points" today. But more often we use rendezvous to describe an assembling of friends, an appointment, or a date with your secret lover. If you're feeling extra Frenchy, you can use rendezvous as a verb, as in "Let's rendezvous next Saturday at the mall."
Vocabulary lists containing rendezvous
The Silent Treatment: Words Plagued by Silent Letters
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Hamilton
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"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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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:
Having withdrawn from an England Under-21s camp, a secret rendezvous to meet US Soccer officials was instead plastered all over social media and he was courted with NBA tickets and trips to Florida.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
The crew is expected to spend about two weeks in space, although the final mission duration will depend on launch schedules, rendezvous timing, and the success of docking operations.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026
The third phase of Artemis will involve testing the Orion spacecraft and conducting rendezvous and docking tests with lunar landers.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
Discovery is known for flying more miles in space than any other shuttle orbiter, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit and making an early rendezvous with Russia’s Mir space station.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
In the meantime, we were scheduled to sleep for a few hours, so that we would be fresh for the complicated rendezvous.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
Rusesabagina and Niyomwungere rendezvoused as planned at the Ibis Styles hotel and then went to the airport.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2021
A few miles offshore, in the Malacca Strait, each rendezvoused with a second, empty tanker that had pulled alongside.
From Reuters ● Jun. 12, 2020
After she learned her name was on his shortlist of future collaborators, they rendezvoused in Los Angeles in 2016 to make her sixth album, “Semper Femina.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2020
Instead of getting together in person, they rendezvoused in front of their respective laptop screens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2020
It was a natural landmark where campers often rendezvoused on hunting expeditions, but now there was nobody around.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
The crew will then spend a little less than a full day in orbit before rendezvousing with the International Space Station.
From The Verge ● Oct. 29, 2021
We had planned to meet at the Nice airport, but after a flight delay, I ended up rendezvousing with them in Antibes.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2018
He stated that he was arrested as he was rendezvousing with a 35-year-old former North Korean solider, who was giving him a USB stick and camera containing military secrets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2016
Bowie reportedly wrote this song after seeing a couple rendezvousing under the Berlin Wall and imagining their story.
From Time ● Jan. 11, 2016
This unexpected event made all further proceedings, in the military way, quite unnecessary; and the war-canoes, instead of rendezvousing at Oparre, were ordered home to their respective districts.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 by Kerr, Robert
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.
