Meaning of cross wires | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To cause difficulty; to interact in a way that generates conflict.
2. To interact in a way that causes confusion or interference.

Examples

“After Diodorus, Josephus († ca. A.D. 95) is our chief source of information about the Nabataeans, but Josephus was interested in them only as they crossed wires with the Hebrews.”

“While AFSA demands justice, we cannot tolerate or sit quietly back and watch colleagues being targeted, secretly investigated, discredited and financially abused because they crossed wires with IG staff.”

“For many poets such a compulsion might remain unfocused, a theme that inadvertently crosses wires and brings forth occasional sparks.”

“Bea's sparky and tough, but crosses wires.”

“The natural sturdy democracy of childhood brings the four together as friends, and though each pair of cousins was naturally destined to complete each other's lives, Nature crosses wires for a while and tangles the four young hearts in a web of conflicting emotions.”

“Your sentiment crosses wires with your common sense, and you pay the penalty when the power goes off and your lights go out”

“Ott often crosses wires, confusing events that occur at quite distinct levels, taking such crossings and confusions as telling evidence:”

“The lettering is small and imperfect, and the language at times difficult; reading it requires an effort that crosses wires between the communion created by shared speech, and the isolation that best suits reading comfortably and with full concentration.”

“There seems to be a contamination here in which the much debated opposition between productive and unproductive work crosses wires with the whole questions of the reserve army of labor (that is, workers currently unemployed).”

CEFR level