rencontre

See also: rencontré

English

Etymology

From Middle French rencontre.

Noun

rencontre (plural rencontres)

1. (now rare) A chance or unexpected meeting or encounter.
   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 165:

     In the entrance hall I was somewhat surprised, and my fair companion still more so, when we met Rashleigh Osbaldistone, who could not help shewing equal wonder at our rencontre.

   • 1842, [Katherine] Thomson, chapter IV, in Widows and Widowers. A Romance of Real Life., volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 52:

     Mr. Gadsden hesitated, jealous and scrupulous now in his actions where ladies were concerned, and more especially anxious on that day that the two circumstances, the rencontre of the morning and the visit of the evening, should not be coupled together by the Northington people.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 5, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     Fancy our late monarch George III when he heard of the revolt of the North American colonies: fancy brazen Goliath when little David stepped forward and claimed a meeting; and you have the feelings of Mr. Reginald Cuff when this rencontre was proposed to him.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑ̃.kɔ̃tʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

rencontre f (plural rencontres)

1. encounter

   J'ai fait la rencontre d'un ami aujourd'hui par hasard dans la rue. -- Today, I encountered a friend by chance in the street.

2. meeting

   Il y a parfois des rencontres entre contributeurs du projet -- There are sometimes meetings between contributors to the project.

3. fixture

   Il y a des rencontres de handball toutes les semaines dans ce stade -- there are handball fixtures every week in this stadium.

Derived terms

• agence de rencontres
• site de rencontres

Related terms

• rencontrer

Verb

rencontre

1. inflection of rencontrer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “rencontre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• cerneront, encreront

Middle French

Noun

rencontre m (plural rencontres)

1. meeting
   • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais:

     Le rencontre m'en offrira le jour quelque autre fois plus apparent que celuy du midy: et me fera estonner de mon hesitation.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)