Crosswise

adj, adv

adj, adv ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    crossing; lying across not-comparable
Adjective
  1. 1
    in the shape of (a horizontal piece on) a cross wordnet
  2. 2
    lying or extending across the length of a thing or in a cross direction wordnet
Adverb
  1. 1
    transversely; so as to lie across not-comparable

    "Jesse gave a whoop, then was out of the saddle and ducking behind a clump of rhododendron, putting his horse crosswise between himself and the beeves."

Adverb
  1. 1
    transversely wordnet
  2. 2
    not in the intended manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
crosswaystransversalacrossacrossacross the grainathwart

Example

More examples

"A truck stopped crosswise in the middle of the road."

Etymology

From Middle English croswyse, crose wyse, equivalent to cross + -wise.

Related phrases

one-half crosswise

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.