at cross purposes

collocation in English

meaningsofat,crossandpurpose

These words are often used together. Click on the links below to explore the meanings. Or,see other collocations withpurpose.
at
preposition
uk
/æt/us
/æt/
used to show an exact position or ...
See more atat
cross
adjective
uk
/krɒs/us
/krɑːs/
mainly UK
annoyed ...
See more atcross
purpose
noun
uk
/ˈpɜː.pəs/us
/ˈpɝː.pəs/
why you do something or why ...
See more atpurpose

(Definition ofat,crossandpurposefrom theCambridge English Dictionary© Cambridge University Press)

Examplesofat cross purposes

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
I am sorry, we are at cross purposes.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I am afraid we are rather at cross purposes.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
There is a path of fatality which pursues the relations between the two countries, and makes them eternally at cross purposes.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I hope this time he will not say that we are talking at cross purposes.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
I am afraid we are at cross purposes.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We note that region improvements and binding-time improvements may come atcrosspurpose.
From theCambridge English Corpus
I will show that explicitly recognizing these different levels, and not confusing them, minimizes the risk of talking at cross purposes.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Neither claim is supportable and, taken together, they stand at cross purposes.
From theCambridge English Corpus
The current arrangement of incentives works at cross purposes to the social good.
From theCambridge English Corpus
Such a collision might introduce new incentives for a president's actions that would put the presidential regime role at cross purposes to the incumbent's political interests.
From theCambridge English Corpus
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
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Go to the definition ofat
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See other collocations withpurpose