English → Latin
“encounter” in Latin
occurrōto run into; to go to meet; to charge, rush to attack; to meet, go to, come tooccursōto run to; to go to meet; to charge, rush to attack; to approach, come towardsresistōto stand back, remain standing somewhere; stand still, halt, stop, stay; remain, continue; to rise or stand up again; toobsistōto place oneself before; to oppose or resist; to make a standofferōto bring before or bring to, present, offer, bestow, show, place before, exhibit, expose; to cause, occasion, inflict; t
The English word encounter itself goes back to Latin in, through incontrā.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
encounter v.
obviam ire (to go to meet, in a hostile sense, or from courtesy): occurrere, occursare (to hasten to meet, whether in a friendly or hostile manner = ἀπαντᾶν): resistere, obsistere (withstand a person or thing). To encounter the enemy, hostibus resistere; hosti se opponere. To encounter a danger, periculo obviam ire, se offerre, se opponere, se committere: to encounter death, morti se offerre, or se objicere: to encounter death undismayed, acriter se morti offerre; promte necem subire (a violent death, Tac., Ann., 16, 10, 1); with the utmost fortitude, irrevocabili constantia ad mortem decurrere (Plin., Ep., 3, 7, in.): to encounter certain death, haud dubiam in mortem vadere (Verg.); se in medios hostes ad perspicuam mortem injicere iby the particular way of flinging one’s self into the midst of the enemy); ad non dubiam mortem concurrere (of whole armies, Cic.); in eum locum proficisci, unde redituros (etc.) se non arbitrantur (Cic.; of a hopeless attack).
Meet by accident, se obviam ferre or offerre (of the person whom we meet): offendere aliquem or aliquid; incurrere in aliquem or aliquid; occurrere alicui: incidere in aliquem.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for encounter?
- The usual Latin words for “encounter” are occurrō, occursō, resistō; also obsistō, offerō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.