meet

Formsmeets, meeting, met

Pluralmeets

Formsmeeter, meetest

1. 1
   first contactverbtransitive or intransitive

   To be introduced to someone and become acquainted for the first time.

   Travelers often meet interesting people on long journeys.

   He first met his future wife at an academic conference.

   UsageUse meet the first time and know after: I met her in 2010 and have known her since. First time: Nice to meet you.

2. 2
   see someoneverbtransitive or intransitive

   To come face to face with someone, either by arrangement or by chance.

   We agreed to meet outside the theater at seven.

   I'm meeting my old college roommate for brunch downtown on Sunday morning.

   UsageUsually meet someone at a place; meet up with is common in speech.

   Oppositepart, avoid

3. 3
   satisfy needsverbtransitive

   To satisfy a requirement, need, or standard; to comply with what is demanded.

   Applicants must meet strict eligibility criteria.

   The factory met its production targets ahead of schedule.

   UsageCommon with needs, standards, targets, deadlines and costs: meet a deadline.

   Similarsatisfy, fulfill, achieve, reach

   Oppositemiss

   Note

   The verb of standards and bills: requirements, criteria, targets and costs are what get met. To meet the cost of repairs is to pay it, not merely to face it, so the phrase sits naturally in contracts and agreements. A proposal that meets your requirements has matched them point for point.

4. 4
   hold a sessionverbintransitive

   Of a group, to come together to discuss matters, whether officially or socially; to convene.

   The committee meets every quarter to review the budget.

   Shareholders meet annually to vote on major decisions.

   UsageThe subject is a group: the committee meets monthly. One person can meet with a group.

   Similarconvene, gather, assemble

   Note

   Walter Besant's The Ivory Gate (1892) shows an older home for such gatherings: the tavern parlor kept for a club or society. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Walter Besant wrote The Ivory Gate. gutenberg.org
   • The Ivory Gate was first published in 1892. en.wikisource.org
   • The novel describes a tavern parlour kept for a club or society to gather in. gutenberg.org
5. 5
   arranged gatheringnouncolloquialcountable

   An arranged meeting, often informal, such as friends getting together or people meeting to make a deal, especially in crime talk.

   We arranged a meet to go over the weekend plans.

   The detective set up a meet with the informant in an empty parking lot.

   UsageOften arrange or set up a meet.

   Similargathering, get-together, meetup

   Note

   A meeting with something at stake: an arranged, face-to-face encounter where business is done, trust is tested or a trap is sprung. The Wire (2002) and The Sopranos (2004) both use it this way, and Wired's 2012 account of missing moon rocks describes a sting built around one. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The Wire uses the noun this way in 2002, in the episode “Cleaning Up”. en.wiktionary.org
   • The Sopranos uses the noun this way in 2004, in the episode “Rat Pack”. en.wiktionary.org
   • Wired published a 2012 account of missing moon rocks describing an undercover operation involving an arranged meet. wired.com
6. 6
   sports eventnouncountable

   An organized contest between athletes, most often in swimming or track and field.

   Hundreds of swimmers registered for the regional meet.

   The university hosts an annual track-and-field meet each spring.

   UsageUsually in compounds: track meet, swim meet.

   Similarcompetition, contest, event

   Note

   Alexandria and Janet Hommel Mangas's Oxygen for the Swimmer (2009) lists a first swim meet, a first race and a first disqualification among a swimmer's firsts. A meet is the whole event made of many races. A single contest between two sides is the verb's business, as in the "play a match" sense. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Alexandria Mangas and Janet Hommel Mangas are credited with Oxygen for the Swimmer. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   experienceverbtransitive

   To come to know, experience, or undergo something, whether welcome or unwelcome.

   Travelers in remote places often meet kindness from strangers.

   She met great hardship during the long winter.

   UsageThe object is an experience, not a person: meet kindness, meet your fate, meet your death.

   Similarencounter, experience, face, undergo

   Note

   The fourth epistle of Pope's Essay on Man (1734) asks which of vice or virtue "meets contempt," and Tennyson's In Memoriam (1850) remembers that "all we met was fair and good." The verb itself is neutral about fortune, so in He met his fate it is the noun that tells you things went badly.

8. 8
   join upverbtransitive or intransitive

   Of lines, roads, rivers, or surfaces, to come together and touch, join, or cross.

   The rivers meet a few miles south of the town.

   The two roads meet just past the old church.

   Similarjoin, converge, merge, intersect, cross

   Oppositediverge, separate, part

9. 9
   play againstverbtransitive

   To face an opponent in a sporting contest or in battle.

   United meet City in the league opener on Saturday.

   The defending champions met their rivals in the semifinal.

   UsageCan take the opponent as an object (one team meets another) or be used with in (two rivals meet in the final).

   Similarplay, face, battle, confront

10. 10
    combineverbtransitive

    To be combined or blended with the qualities of something else.

    Her debut novel is where history meets fantasy.

    These designs let rustic textures meet sleek modern lines.

    UsageCommon in the pattern X meets Y, often in titles and reviews: history meets fantasy.

    Note

    The formula for describing a hybrid: X meets Y, with two titles or styles and no article, as in Stephen Fry's The Liar (1991): "sort of Animal Farm meets Arturo Ui." It describes a blend rather than reporting that anything happened. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Stephen Fry wrote The Liar. en.wikipedia.org
    • The Liar was first published in 1991. cdn.penguin.co.uk
    • The quoted words occur in The Liar, spoken by the character Sampson. cdn.penguin.co.uk

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