Word.ws English Dictionary

cross purpose

cross purpose is the alternative form of cross-purpose.

Meaning of cross-purpose

Noun

cross-purpose (plural cross-purposes)

  1. (idiomatic) A contrary or conflicting purpose or understanding, especially an unintentional or misconceived one.
    • We are working at cross-purposes here, if you're trying to reduce the count and I'm trying to increase it.

Forms of cross purpose

pluralcross purposes

Questions about cross purpose

What is cross purpose the alternative form of?
Cross purpose is the alternative form of cross-purpose.

Words near cross purpose in the dictionary

  1. cross peen hammers
  2. cross potence
  3. cross potent
  4. cross product
  5. cross products
  6. cross purpose
  7. cross purposes
  8. cross resistance
  9. Cross River
  10. cross road
  11. cross roads

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cross purpose (page history and authors); cross-purpose (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: “cross purpose.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cross_purpose. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.