What does "meet" mean?
A sports competition, especially for track and field or swimming.
Meet
/miːt/ adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A sports competition, especially for track and field or swimming.
- Grammar: meet is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: abide by, abut, accepted, accommodate.
- Useful contrasts: abandoning, absence, avoid.
- Usage evidence: Everyone wants to meet you. You're famous!
How to use "meet"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "meet" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "meet" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "meet" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "meet" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "meet" is acting as adj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abide by" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "meet", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sports competition, especially for track and field or swimming.
"track meet"
- 2 a meeting at which a number of athletic contests are held wordnet
- 3 A gathering of riders, horses and hounds for foxhunting; a field meet for hunting.
- 4 A meeting of two trains in opposite directions on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other cross.
- 5 A meeting. informal
"OK, let's arrange a meet with Tyler and ask him."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 The greatest lower bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol ∧.
Verb
- 1 To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.; To come face to face with by accident; to encounter.
"Fancy meeting you here! Guess who I met at the supermarket today?"
- 2 contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle wordnet
- 3 To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.; To come face to face with someone by arrangement.
"Let's meet at the station at 9 o'clock."
- 4 fill, satisfy or meet a want or need or condition or restriction wordnet
- 5 To make contact (with someone) while in proximity.; To get acquainted with someone.
"I'm pleased to meet you! I'd like you to meet a colleague of mine."
Show 20 more definitions
- 6 be in direct physical contact with; make contact wordnet
- 7 To come together.; To gather for a formal or social discussion; to hold a meeting.
"I met with them several times. The government ministers met today to start the negotiations."
- 8 meet by design; be present at the arrival of wordnet
- 9 To come together.; To come together in conflict.
"Sir said Epynegrys is þᵗ the rule of yow arraunt knyghtes for to make a knyght to Iuste will he or nyll As for that sayd Dynadan make the redy for here is for me And there with al they spored theyr horses & mett to gyders soo hard that Epynegrys smote doune sir Dynadan"
- 10 come together wordnet
- 11 To come together.; To play a match.
"England and Holland will meet in the final."
- 12 undergo or suffer wordnet
- 13 To make physical or perceptual contact.; To converge and finally touch or intersect.
"The two streets meet at a crossroad half a mile away."
- 14 collect in one place wordnet
- 15 To make physical or perceptual contact.; To touch or hit something while moving.
"The right wing of the car met the column in the garage, leaving a dent."
- 16 get together socially or for a specific purpose wordnet
- 17 To make physical or perceptual contact.; To adjoin, be physically touching.
"The carpet meets the wall at this side of the room. The forest meets the sea along this part of the coast."
- 18 get to know; get acquainted with wordnet
- 19 To make physical or perceptual contact.; To respond to (an argument etc.) with something equally convincing; to refute. transitive
"He met every objection to the trip with another reason I should go."
- 20 be adjacent or come together wordnet
- 21 To satisfy; to comply with.
"This proposal meets my requirements. The company agrees to meet the cost of any repairs."
- 22 experience as a reaction wordnet
- 23 To balance or come out correct. intransitive
"1967, Northern Ireland. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) House of Commons Official Report In this instance he has chosen an accountant. I suppose that it will be possible for an accountant to make the figures meet."
- 24 To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.
"The eye met a horrid sight. He met his fate."
- 25 To be mixed with, to be combined with aspects of.
"‘I’m planning a sort of fabliau comparing this place with a fascist state,’ said Sampson, ‘sort of Animal Farm meets Arturo Ui . . .’"
Adjective
- 1 Suitable; right; proper. archaic
"It ſeemes not meete, nor wholeſome to my place, / To be producted, (as, if I ſtay, I ſhall,) / Againſt the Moore. […]"
- 2 Submissive; passive. obsolete
Adjective
- 1 being precisely fitting and right wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Everyone wants to meet you. You're famous!"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "meet"?
Common synonyms include: abide by, abut, accepted, accommodate, accommodate with, accommodated.
How do you use "meet" in a sentence?
Everyone wants to meet you. You're famous!
How do you pronounce "meet"?
Pronounced /miːt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English meten, from Old English mētan (“to meet, find, encounter”), from Proto-West Germanic *mōtijan (“to meet”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtijaną (“to meet”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- (“to come, meet”). Cognates Cognate with Scots met, mete, meit (“to meet”), North Frisian meet, mätje, möt (“to meet”), West Frisian mette, moetsje (“to meet”), Dutch ontmoeten (“to meet”), Low German möten (“to meet”), Danish møde (“to meet”), Elfdalian my̨öt (“to meet”), Faroese møta (“to meet”), Icelandic mæta (“to meet”), Norwegian Bokmål møte (“to meet”), Norwegian Nynorsk møta, møte (“to meet”), Swedish möta (“to meet”). Related to moot.
Etymology 2
From Middle English mete, imete, from Old English ġemǣte (“suitable, having the same measurements”), from the Proto-Germanic *gamētijaz, *mētiz (“reasonable; estimable”) (cognate with Dutch meten (“measure”), German gemäß (“suitable”) etc.), itself from collective prefix *ga- + Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).