Word.ws English Dictionary

at six and seven

Syllables: at six and sev·enUK/æt ˌsɪks n̩ ˈsɛvn̩/US/æt ˌsɪks n̩ ˈsɛvən/

at six and seven is the obsolete form of at sixes and sevens.

Meaning of at sixes and sevens

Prepositional phrase

(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic)

  1. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic) In a state of confusion.
    • [T]he poore, although they ſee that one hath great aboundance of corne, that an other hath great plentie of vvine: yet ought they not vvithſtanding to bear their penurie patiently, and not to runne and ſcratch for other mens goods, as if they vvere left at ſixe and ſeuen.[1583, Iohn Caluin [i.e., John Calvin], “On Thursday the XXX. of Ianuarie, 1556. The CXXXVJ. Sermon which is the Seuenth vpon the Three and Twentieth Chapter, and the First vpon the XXIIII.”, in...
  2. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic) Of (groups of) people: in a state of disagreement or dispute.
    • [H]er outlook on life was so different from what he conceived a woman's outlook should be, that he was more often than not at sixes and sevens with her.1911 March, Jack London, “Tempest”, in Adventure, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 77
    Synonyms:
    at loggerheads

Words that rhyme with at six and seven

4 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about at six and seven

What is at six and seven the obsolete form of?
At six and seven is the obsolete form of at sixes and sevens.
How do you pronounce at six and seven?
At six and seven is pronounced /æt ˌsɪks n̩ ˈsɛvn̩/ (UK).

Words near at six and seven in the dictionary

  1. at short notice
  2. at short sight
  3. at sight
  4. at sign
  5. at signs
  6. at six and seven
  7. at sixes and sevens
  8. at some point
  9. at someone's disposal
  10. at someone's door
  11. at someone's elbow

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at six and seven (page history and authors); at sixes and sevens (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “at six and seven.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/at_six_and_seven. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.