Word.ws English Dictionary

cross

UK/kɹɒs/

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

British/kɹɔs/

cross noun: a geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other. Also the alternative letter-case form of Cross.

cross: a geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at...
Image: Masturbius based on original PNG and PostScript source by, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cross (plural crosses)

  1. A geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other.
    • Put a cross for a wrong answer and a tick for a right one.
  2. Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.
  3. A wooden post with a perpendicular beam attached and used (especially in the Roman Empire) to execute criminals (by crucifixion).
    • Criminals were commonly executed on a wooden cross.
    Synonyms:
    crucifix
  4. A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross; sign of the cross.
    • She made the cross after swearing.
  5. Any representation of the crucifix, as in religious architecture, burial markers, jewelry, etc.
    • She was wearing a cross on her necklace.
    Synonyms:
    crucifix
  6. (figuratively) A difficult situation that must be endured.
    • It's a cross I must bear.
    • Heaven prepares good men with crosses.1641, Ben Jonson, Timber
  7. The act of going across; the act of passing from one side to the other
    • A quick cross of the road.
  8. An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.
    Synonyms:
    hybrid
  9. One element of a hybrid species or type.
    • The native Amboynese who reside in the city are a strange half-civilized, half-savage lazy people, who seem to be a mixture of at least three races - Portuguese, Malay, and Papuan or Ceramese, with an occasional cross of Chinese or Dutch.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 471
  10. (broadly) A hybrid of any kind.
    • Toning down the ancient Viking into a sort of a cross between Paul Jones and Jeremy Diddler1856, Lord Dufferin, Letters from High Latitudes
  11. A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.
  12. A pass in which the ball is kicked from a side of the pitch to a position close to the opponent’s goal.
    • And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside.2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC
    • More German peril would follow as Joshua Kimmich swung in a cross for Havertz, whose well-placed header was majestically saved by Yahia Fofana.2026 June 20, Leander Schaerlaeckens, “Deniz Undav’s double earns Germany dramatic late win against Côte d’Ivoire”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
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  1. A place where roads intersect and lead off in four directions; a crossroad (common in UK and Irish place names such as Gerrards Cross).
  2. A monument that marks such a place. (Also common in UK or Irish place names such as Charing Cross)
  3. (obsolete) A coin stamped with the figure of a cross, or that side of such a piece on which the cross is stamped; hence, money in general.
    • I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  4. (Ireland, obsolete) Church lands.
    • the church-lands lying within the same, which were called the Cross1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued
  5. A line across or through another line.
  6. An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.
  7. A pipe-fitting with four branches whose axes usually form a right angle.
  8. Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.
  9. The thirty-sixth Lenormand card.
  10. (archaic) A betrayal; dishonest practices, especially deliberately losing a sporting contest.
  11. (slang) Crossfire.

Adjective

cross (comparative crosser, superlative crossest)

  1. Transverse; lying across the main direction.
    • At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.
    • the cross refraction of the second prism1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin]...
  2. (archaic) Opposite, opposed to.
    • His actions were perversely cross to his own happiness.
  3. (archaic) Opposing, adverse; being contrary to what one would hope or wish for.
    • As a fat body is more subject to diseases, so are rich men to absurdities and fooleries, to many casualties and cross inconveniences., New York Review of Books, 2001, p.50
    • a cross fortunec. 1650, Jeremy Taylor, Of Contentedness
  4. (UK, Ottawa Valley) (of someone) Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed; (of words) tinged with anger.
    • They exchanged a few cross words.
    • She was rather cross about missing her train on the first day of the job.
    Synonyms:
    angry, annoyed, irritated
  5. Made in an opposite direction, or an inverse relation; mutually inverse; interchanged.
    • cross interrogatories
    • cross marriages, as when a brother and sister marry persons standing in the same relation to each other
  6. Of the sea, having two wave systems traveling at oblique angles, due to the wind over shifting direction or the waves of two storm systems meeting.
    • As my father remarked to me when I stole on deck to view the state of affairs, the sea was a "cross one," and very difficult to steer against.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 15
  7. (archaic) Dishonest.

Preposition

cross

  1. (archaic) Across.
    • She walked cross the mountains.
    • A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village.1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC
  2. The cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.
    • The Lorentz force is q times v cross B.

Verb

cross (third-person singular simple present crosses, present participle crossing, simple past and past participle crossed)

  1. To place across or athwart; to cause to intersect.
    • She frowned and crossed her arms.
  2. To lay or draw something across, such as a line.
    • to cross the letter t
  3. To mark with an X.
    • Cross the box which applies to you.
  4. To write lines of text at right angles to and over the top of one another in order to save paper.( Crossed letter on WikipediaWikipedia )
    • An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN
  5. (reflexive, to cross oneself) To make the sign of the cross over oneself.
    • Again Beatrice crossed herself and sighed heavily as she bent over the dead insect.1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rappaccini's Daughter”, in Mosses from an Old Manse
  6. (transitive) To make the sign of the cross over (something or someone).
    • "Well, no! that's what I cannot make out either," said the mother quite innocently, "for I've had castor in the cradle, - I have crossed him, and I put a silver brooch in his shirt, and I stuck a knife in the beam over the door, so I don't know how they could have managed to change him."1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 298
  7. (UK, obsolete, slang, transitive, Oxford University) To mark a cross against the name of (a student) in the buttery or kitchen, so that they cannot get food there.
    • The reign of Mary was scarcely more favourable to letters. No one knew what to be at in religion. In Magdalen no one could be found to say Mass, the fellows were turned out, the undergraduates were whipped — boyish martyrs — and crossed at the buttery.2022, Andrew Lang, Oxford
  8. (transitive) To go from one side of (something) to the other.
    • Why did the chicken cross the road?
    • You need to cross the street at the lights.
  9. (intransitive) To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.
    • Ships crossing from starboard have right-of-way.
  10. (transitive) To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.
    • November 4, 1866, James David Forbes, letter to E. C. Batten Esq.
      Your kind letter crossed mine.
  11. Of both batsmen, to pass each other when running between the wickets in order to score runs.
  12. To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other side.
    • He crossed the ball into the penalty area.
Show 6 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. To score a try.
    • England cut loose at the end of the half, Ashton, Mark Cueto and Mike Tindall all crossing before the break.2011 February 12, Mark Orlovac, “England 59-13 Italy”, in BBC
  2. (transitive, social) To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.
    • "You'll rue the day you tried to cross me, Tom Hero!" bellowed the villain.
    • At length I begged him, with all the earnestness I felt, to tell me what had occurred to cross him so unusually, and to let me sympathize with him, if I could not hope to advise him.1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC
  3. (obsolete, transitive, social) To interfere and cut off ; to debar.
    • to cross me from the golden time I look forc. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  4. (social) To conduct a cross examination; to question a hostile witness.
  5. To cross-fertilize or crossbreed.
    • They managed to cross a sheep with a goat.
    • Question: What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?
      Answer : El-if-I-no.1978, Kim Applegate Peggs, Carpenter, volume 96, page 16
  6. (transitive) To stamp or mark (a cheque) in such a way as to prevent it being cashed, thus requiring it to be deposited into a bank account.
    • The English practice of crossing checks so that payment may be made to the bank account or to order is prevalent.1924, Commerce Reports, volume 1, number 13, page 849

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Cross

Cross

  1. The cross on which Jesus died and, in metonymical uses, such as to refer to Christ's suffering in general.
  2. A settlement on the Isle of Lewis, Western Isles council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NB5062).
  3. A hamlet in St Dominick parish, east Cornwall, England (OS grid ref SX4067)
  4. A hamlet in Georgeham parish, North Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS4539).
  5. A hamlet in Goodleigh parish, North Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref SS6034).
  6. A hamlet in Ellesmere Rural parish and Ellesmere Urban parish, north of Ellesmere, Shropshire, England (OS grid ref SJ3936).
  7. A village in Compton Bishop parish, Somerset, England, previously in Sedgemoor district (OS grid ref ST4154).
  8. A village and townland in County Clare, Ireland, Irish spelling An Chrois.
  9. A village in County Mayo, Ireland, Irish spelling An Chrois.
  10. An unincorporated community in Berkeley County, South Carolina, United States.
  11. An unincorporated community in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States.
  12. A town in Buffalo County, Wisconsin, United States.
  13. A barangay of Glan, Sarangani, Philippines.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Cross

Cross

  1. A topographic surname from Middle English for someone who lived near a stone cross on a road.
    • Max Cross cut a fine figure as the Colonel, Percy Penny was a somewhat unducal Duke, while Edgar McHale gave a particularly good rendering of the Major.1922, Musical News and Herald, volumes 62-63, page 780

Also used as

cross is also the alternative letter-case form of Cross.

cross meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

cross in Hindi

geometrical figure
क्रूस krūs, सलीब salīb
wooden post with a perpendicular beam, used for crucifixion
सलीब salīb
definite: the cross on which Christ was crucified
सलीब salīb, क्रूस krūs
angry, annoyed
नाराज़ nārāz

cross in Tamil

wooden post with a perpendicular beam, used for crucifixion
சிலுவை ciluvai
definite: the cross on which Christ was crucified
குறுக்கு kuṟukku, சிலுவை ciluvai

cross in Urdu

geometrical figure
صَلِیب salīb
wooden post with a perpendicular beam, used for crucifixion
صَلِیب salīb
definite: the cross on which Christ was crucified
صَلِیب salīb, سُولی sūlī
angry, annoyed
ناراض nārāz

cross in Bengali

geometrical figure
ক্রুশ kruś
More languagesFewer languages
cross in Telugu
సిలువ siluva, సంకరము saṅkaramu, అడ్డము aḍḍamu, దాటు dāṭu
cross in Malayalam
കുരിശ് kuriśŭ, സ്ലീവാ slīvā, വിഷമ സ്ഥിതി viṣama sthiti, കടക്കുക kaṭakkuka
cross in Kannada
ಶಿಲುಬೆ śilube
cross in Sanskrit
तरति tarati
cross in Sinhala
කුරුසය kurusaya
cross in Pashto
صليب salíb, چليپا čalipã
cross in Tagalog
laktaw
cross in Arabic
صَلِيب ṣalīb, عَبْر ʕabr, خِلَال ḵilāl, عَبَرَ ʕabara
cross in Malay
silang, palang, pangkah, salib
cross in Indonesian
silang, salib, tanda salib, biak silang
cross in Persian
صَلیب salib, چَلیپا čalipâ, خاج xâj, خاچ xâč
cross in Thai
กากบาท gaa-gà-bàat, ไม้กางเขน máai-gaang-kěen, หมัดตรง màt-dtrong, ข้าม kâam
cross in Vietnamese
chữ thập, thập giá, thập tự, thánh giá
cross in Myanmar
ကြက်ခြေ krakhkre, လက်ဝါးကပ်တိုင် lak-wa:kaptuing, ကူး ku:

Examples of cross in a sentence

  • Please don't get cross at me. (or) Please don't get cross with me.
  • It's not fair to deny me / Of the cross I bear that you gave to me / You, you, you oughta know1995, “You Oughta Know”, in Jagged Little Pill, performed by Alanis Morissette:
  • the cross and unlucky issue of my designs1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […]...
  • The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvellously cross to the common experience of mankind.1694, Robert South, Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making it So (sermon preached at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 1694)
  • We are both love's captives, but with fates so cross, / One must be happy by the other's loss.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please...

All 40 example sentences with cross

Synonyms of cross

4 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of cross

Forms of cross

Noun
pluralcrosses
Adjective
comparativecrosser
superlativecrossest
Verb
third-person singular presentcrosses
present participlecrossing
past participlecrossed
pastcrossed
second-person singular present (archaic)crossest
second-person singular past (archaic)crossedst
third-person singular present (archaic)crosseth

Past tense of cross: crossed

Plural of cross: crosses

Origin of cross

From Middle English cross, cros, from Old English cros (“rood, cross”), from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux (crucī). In this sense displaced native Middle English rode, from Old English rōd (“cross”); see English rood. Doublet of crouch (“cross”) and crux. Compare Welsh croes, Irish crois. The sense of "two intersecting lines drawn or cut on a surface; two lines intersecting at right angles" without regard to religious signification develops from the late 14th century. Cognates *Icelandic kross (“cross”) *Faroese krossur (“cross”) *Norwegian Nynorsk kross, kors (“cross”) *Danish kors (“cross”) *Swedish kors (“cross”) *North Frisian kross, korss (“cross”) *Saterland Frisian Krjuus, Kjus (“cross”) *West Frisian krús (“cross”) *Dutch kruis (“cross”) *German Low German Krüüz (“cross”) *German Kreuz (“cross”)

* As an English surname, from the noun cross, as in crossroads. Also a calque of this word in various European languages, such as French Lacroix, German Kreutz, Serbo-Croatian Križ. Compare Crouch, Crozier, Kriz. * As an Irish surname, shortened from McCrossen. * As a German surname, Americanized from Kross, from Middle Low German krus (“pitcher, vessel”), which is possibly an old Germanic borrowing of Ancient Greek κρωσσός (krōssós, “pitcher, pail, urn”). Also a variant of Kress.

Words formed from cross

Phrases with cross

167 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with cross

27 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cross

What does cross mean?
Cross means a geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other.
What is cross in Hindi?
Cross in Hindi is क्रूस (krūs), सलीब (salīb), पार करना (pār karnā). See Cross meaning in Hindi.
How do you use cross in a sentence?
Please don't get cross at me. (or) Please don't get cross with me.
What part of speech is cross?
Cross can be a noun, an adjective, a preposition or a verb.
How do you pronounce cross?
Cross is pronounced /kɹɒs/ (UK).
What is the plural of cross?
The plural of cross is crosses.

Words near cross in the dictionary

  1. crosne
  2. crosnes
  3. Croson
  4. Crosons
  5. crospovidone
  6. cross
  7. cross a bridge before one comes to it
  8. cross action
  9. cross actions
  10. cross aisle
  11. cross aisles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cross (page history and authors); Cross (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-cross.ogg, En-ca-cross.ogg, En-au-cross.ogg.

Cite this entry: “cross.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cross. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.