cross swords
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Have an argument.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
On March 20 and October 9, Saturn and Pluto cross swords for the first time in two decades.
Unknown to him Leopold had recently heard from another composer, Peter von Winter, who had crossed swords with Wolfgang in Mannheim, and was now maliciously taking his revenge.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “cross swords” mean?
Have an argument.
Is “cross swords” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.