at cross purposes

With aims or goals that conflict or interfere with one another, as in I'm afraid the two departments are working at cross purposes. This idiom, first recorded in 1688, may have begun as a 17th-century parlor game called “cross-purposes,” in which a series of subjects (or questions) were divided from their explanations (or answers) and distributed around the room. Players then created absurdities by combining a subject taken from one person with an explanation taken from another.

Words nearby at cross purposes

ATC, Atchafalaya, Atchison, at close quarters, at close range, at cross purposes, at death's door, at-desk, ate, at each other's throats, A Team

单词	at cross purposes
释义	at cross purposes With aims or goals that conflict or interfere with one another, as in I'm afraid the two departments are working at cross purposes. This idiom, first recorded in 1688, may have begun as a 17th-century parlor game called “cross-purposes,” in which a series of subjects (or questions) were divided from their explanations (or answers) and distributed around the room. Players then created absurdities by combining a subject taken from one person with an explanation taken from another. Words nearby at cross purposes ATC, Atchafalaya, Atchison, at close quarters, at close range, at cross purposes, at death's door, at-desk, ate, at each other's throats, A Team The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Words related to at cross purposes inimical, hostile, opposing, averse, antithetical, disputed, anti, conflicting, repelling, clashing, crossing, counter, rival, disagreeing, facing, warring, confronting, objecting, battling, protesting
随便看	vfd v-fib v-four vfr v.f.w. vfx vg vga vhdl vhf vhs vi via viability viable via dolorosa viaduct viagra vial via media viand viangchan vi apple viareggio viatical

at cross purposes

Words nearby at cross purposes

Words related to at cross purposes