at cross-purposes
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Working against each other's goals
Literally: having purposes that cross or conflict
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The two teams were working at cross-purposes, which hindered the project's progress
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “at cross-purposes” mean?
Working against each other's goals Literally: having purposes that cross or conflict
Is “at cross-purposes” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.