| 词汇 | at cross purposes |
| 释义 | Idiom at cross purposes 1. with different intentions. The two groups of advisors seemed to be working at cross purposes during this crisis. 2. in ways that are opposed to each other. The relief effort was characterized by a tendency to work at cross purposes instead of everyone working together. at cross purposesIn conflict with or in opposition to. You will never find success if you continue to work at cross purposes with your teammates. at cross-purposeswith opposing viewpoints; with goals that interfere with each other. We are arguing at cross-purposes. We aren't even discussing the same thing. Bill and Tom are working at cross-purposes. They'll never get the job done right. at cross purposesWith 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. at cross purposesIf two people are at cross purposes, they think they are talking about or trying to do the same thing as each other, but they are actually talking about or trying to do different things. They had been talking at cross purposes earlier, he realized. The Hungarian hadn't been offering him a share of the deal at all. Now that Council members are working together instead of at cross purposes, the chances of success look considerably brighter. at cross purposesmisunderstanding or having different aims from one another.at cross-purposes Pursuing conflicting or contrary goals, usually unintentionally: We're working at cross-purposes. |
| 随便看 |
|
青年旅行网英语在线翻译词典收录了440382条英语词汇在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的中英文双语翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。