at cross purposes
adjective
Roget 704:
difficult,
not easy,
hard,
tough;
troublesome,
toilsome,
irksome;
operose†,
laborious,
onerous,
arduous,
Herculean,
formidable;
sooner said than done;
more easily said than done,
easier said than done.
difficult to deal with,
hard to deal with;
ill-conditioned,
crabbed,
crabby;
not to be handled with kid gloves,
not made with rose water.
awkward,
unwieldy,
unmanageable;
intractable,
stubborn
etc.
(obstinate)
606;
perverse,
refractory,
plaguy†,
trying,
thorny,
rugged;
knotted,
knotty;
invious†;
pathless,
trackless;
labyrinthine
etc.
(convoluted)
248;
intricate,
complicated
etc.
(tangled)
59;
impracticable
etc.
(impossible)
471;
not feasible
etc.
470;
desperate
etc.
(hopeless)
859.
embarrassing,
perplexing
etc.
(uncertain)
475;
delicate,
ticklish,
critical;
beset with difficulties,
full of difficulties,
surrounded by difficulties,
entangled by difficulties,
encompassed with difficulties.
under a difficulty;
in a box;
in difficulty,
in hot water,
in the suds,
in a cleft stick,
in a fix,
in the wrong box,
in a scrape
etc.
n.,
in deep water,
in a fine pickle;
in extremis;
between two stools,
between Scylla and Charybdis;
surrounded by shoals,
surrounded by breakers,
surrounded by quicksands;
at cross purposes;
not out of the wood.
reduced to straits;
hard pressed,
sorely pressed;
run hard;
pinched,
put to it,
straitened;
hard up,
hard put to it,
hard set;
put to one's shifts;
puzzled,
at a loss,
etc.
(uncertain)
475;
at the end of one's tether,
at the end of one's rope,
at one's wit's end,
at a nonplus,
at a standstill;
graveled,
nonplused,
nonplussed,
stranded,
aground;
stuck fast,
set fast;
up a tree,
at bay,
aux abois [Fr.],
driven into a corner,
driven from pillar to post,
driven to extremity,
driven to one's wit's end,
driven to the wall;
au bout de son Latin;
out of one's depth;
thrown out.
accomplished with difficulty;
hard-fought,
hard-earned.
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adverb
Roget 708:
against,
versus,
counter to,
in conflict with,
at cross purposes.
against the grain,
against the current,
against the stream,
against the wind,
against the tide;
with a headwind;
with the wind ahead,
with the wind in one's teeth.
in spite,
in despite,
in defiance;
in the way,
in the teeth of,
in the face of;
across;
athwart,
overthwart†;
where the shoe pinches;
in spite of one's teeth.
though
etc.
30;
even;
quand meme [Fr.];
per contra.
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adjective
Roget 713:
discordant;
disagreeing
etc.
v.;
out of tune,
ajar,
on bad terms,
dissentient
etc.
489;
unreconciled,
unpacified;
contentious
etc.
720.
quarrelsome,
unpacific†;
gladiatorial,
controversial,
polemic,
disputatious;
factious;
litigious,
litigant;
pettifogging.
at odds,
at loggerheads,
at daggers drawn,
at variance,
at issue,
at cross purposes,
at sixes and sevens,
at feud,
at high words;
up in arms,
together by the ears,
in hot water,
embroiled.
torn,
disunited.
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Roget 14:
contrary,
contrarious†,
contrariant†;
opposite,
counter,
dead against;
converse,
reverse;
opposed,
antithetical,
contrasted,
antipodean,
antagonistic,
opposing;
conflicting,
inconsistent,
contradictory,
at cross purposes;
negative;
hostile
etc.
703.
differing toto coelo [Lat.];
diametrically opposite;
diametrically opposed;
as opposite as black and white,
as opposite as light and darkness,
as opposite as fire and water,
as opposite as the poles;
as different as night and day;
Hyperion to a satyr"
[Hamlet];
quite the contrary,
quite the reverse;
no such thing,
just the other way,
tout au contraire [Fr.].
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Roget 495:
erroneous,
untrue,
false,
devoid of truth,
fallacious,
apocryphal,
unreal,
ungrounded,
groundless;
unsubstantial
etc.
4;
heretical
etc.
(heterodox)
984;
unsound;
illogical
etc.
477.
inexact,
unexact inaccurate†,
incorrect;
indefinite
etc.
(uncertain)
475.
illusive,
illusory;
delusive;
mock,
ideal
etc.
(imaginary)
515;
spurious
etc.
545;
deceitful
etc.
544;
perverted.
controvertible,
unsustainable;
unauthenticated,
untrustworthy.
exploded,
refuted;
discarded.
in error,
under an error
etc.
n.;
mistaken
etc.
v.;
tripping
etc.
v.;
out,
out in one's reckoning;
aberrant;
beside the mark,
wide of the mark,
wide of the truth,
way off,
far off;
astray
etc.
(at fault)
475;
on a false scent,
on the wrong scent;
in the wrong box,
outside the ballpark;
at cross purposes,
all in the wrong;
all out.
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Moby thesaurus: adversative, adverse, adverse to, adversive, against, against the grain, against the tide, against the wind, antagonistic, anti, antipathetic, antithetic, antonymous, at cross-purposes with, at daggers, at daggers drawn, at enmity, at feud, at issue, at loggerheads, at odds, at outs, at square, at strife, at variance, at war, at war with, athwart, balancing, clashing, compensating, con, conflicting, confronting, contra, contradictory, contradistinct, contrapositive, contrarious, contrariwise, contrary, contrasted, converse, counter, counter to, counterbalancing, counterpoised, countervailing, cranky, cross, dead against, differing, disaccordant, disagreeable, disagreeing, discordant, discrepant, disharmonious, disproportionate, dissident, dissonant, divergent, eyeball to eyeball, eyeball-to-eyeball, grating, hostile, immiscible, in conflict with, in confrontation, in hostile array, in opposition, in opposition to, inaccordant, incompatible, inconsistent, inharmonious, inimical, inverse, jangling, jarring, negative, obverse, on the outs, opposed, opposed to, opposing, opposite, oppositional, oppositive, oppugnant, out of accord, out of whack, perverse, repugnant, reverse, squared off, uncongenial, unharmonious, up in arms, variant, versus, vis-a-vis, with crossed bayonets ... show more.
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