Find vs. Meet — What's the Difference?

To come upon, often by accident; meet with

To come into the presence of by chance or arrangement

To come upon or discover by searching or making an effort

To come into the company of

To discover or ascertain through observation, experience, or study

To be introduced to; make the acquaintance of

To perceive to be, after experience or consideration

To come together or confront in opposition

To experience or feel

To be present at the arrival of

To recover (something lost)

To come into conjunction with; join or touch

To recover the use of; regain

To come into conformity with the views, wishes, or opinions of

To succeed in reaching; arrive at

To come to the notice of (the senses)

To obtain or acquire by effort

To experience or undergo

To decide on and make a declaration about

To be sufficient for (a need, for example); fulfill

To furnish; supply

To deal or contend with effectively

To bring (oneself) to an awareness of what one truly wishes to be and do in life.

To pay; settle

To perceive (oneself) to be in a specific place or condition

To come together

To come to a legal decision or verdict

To come into conjunction; be joined

The act of finding.

To come together as opponents; contend

Something that is found, especially an unexpectedly valuable discovery

To become introduced

To locate

To assemble

(transitive) To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.

To occur together, especially in one person or entity

(transitive) To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.

A meeting or contest, especially an athletic competition.

(ditransitive) Locate on behalf of another

Fitting; proper

(ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end.

To make contact (with) while in proximity.

(transitive) To gain, as the object of desire or effort.

To come face to face with by accident; to encounter.

(transitive) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.

To come face to face with someone by arrangement.

(transitive) To point out.

To get acquainted with someone.

(ditransitive) To decide that, to discover that, to form the opinion that.

(Of groups) To come together.

(transitive) To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.

To gather for a formal or social discussion; to hold a meeting.

To supply; to furnish.

To come together in conflict.

To provide for

(sports) To play a match.

To determine or judge.

To make physical or perceptual contact.

To successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.

To converge and finally touch or intersect.

To discover game.

To touch or hit something while moving.

Anything that is found (usually valuable), as objects on an archeological site or a person with talent.

To adjoin, be physically touching.

The act of finding.

(transitive) To respond to (an argument etc.) with something equally convincing; to refute.

To meet with, or light upon, accidentally; to gain the first sight or knowledge of, as of something new, or unknown; hence, to fall in with, as a person.

To satisfy; to comply with.

To learn by experience or trial; to perceive; to experience; to discover by the intellect or the feelings; to detect; to feel.

(intransitive) To balance or come out correct.

To come upon by seeking; as, to find something lost.

To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer.

To provide for; to supply; to furnish; as, to find food for workemen; he finds his nephew in money.

To be mixed with, to be combined with aspects of.

To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish; as, to find a verdict; to find a true bill (of indictment) against an accused person.

(sports) A sports competition, especially for track and field or swimming.

To determine an issue of fact, and to declare such a determination to a court; as, the jury find for the plaintiff.

(hunting) A gathering of riders, horses and hounds for foxhunting; a field meet for hunting.

Anything found; a discovery of anything valuable; especially, a deposit, discovered by archæologists, of objects of prehistoric or unknown origin.

(rail transport) A meeting of two trains in opposite directions on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other cross.

A productive insight

(informal) A meeting.

The act of discovering something

(algebra) The greatest lower bound, an operation between pairs of elements in a lattice, denoted by the symbol ∧.

Come upon, as if by accident; meet with;

(archaic) Suitable; right; proper.

Discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of;

To join, or come in contact with; esp., to come in contact with by approach from an opposite direction; to come upon or against, front to front, as distinguished from contact by following and overtaking.

Come upon after searching; find the location of something that was missed or lost;

To come in collision with; to confront in conflict; to encounter hostilely; as, they met the enemy and defeated them; the ship met opposing winds and currents.

After a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study;

To come into the presence of without contact; to come close to; to intercept; to come within the perception, influence, or recognition of; as, to meet a train at a junction; to meet carriages or persons in the street; to meet friends at a party; sweet sounds met the ear.

Come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds;

To perceive; to come to a knowledge of; to have personal acquaintance with; to experience; to suffer; as, the eye met a horrid sight; he met his fate.

Perceive or be contemporaneous with;

To come up to; to be even with; to equal; to match; to satisfy; to ansver; as, to meet one's expectations; the supply meets the demand.

Get something or somebody for a specific purpose;

To come together by mutual approach; esp., to come in contact, or into proximity, by approach from opposite directions; to join; to come face to face; to come in close relationship; as, we met in the street; two lines meet so as to form an angle.

Make a discovery, make a new finding;

To come together with hostile purpose; to have an encounter or conflict.

Make a discovery;

To assemble together; to congregate; as, Congress meets on the first Monday of December.

Obtain through effort or management;

To come together by mutual concessions; hence, to agree; to harmonize; to unite.

Decide on and make a declaration about;

An assembling together; esp., the assembling of huntsmen for the hunt; also, the persons who so assemble, and the place of meeting.

Receive a specified treatment (abstract);

Suitable; fit; proper; appropriate; qualified; convenient.

Perceive oneself to be in a certain condition or place;

Meetly.

Get or find back; recover the use of;

A meeting at which a number of athletic contests are held

Succeed in reaching; arrive at;

Come together;

Accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation;

Get together socially or for a specific purpose

Be adjacent or come together;

Fill or meet a want or need

Satisfy a condition or restriction;

Satisfy or fulfill;

Get to know; get acquainted with;

Collect in one place;

Meet by design; be present at the arrival of;

Contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle;

Experience as a reaction;

Undergo or suffer;

Be in direct physical contact with; make contact;

Being precisely fitting and right;