at a crossroads

Nội Dung Chính

At a point when a choice must be made; at a point of change.

After earning my degree, I’m at a crossroads. I need to figure out which direction my life should take.

As a company, we’re at a crossroads. We can continue business as usual, or we can take a risk and try to grow.

See also: crossroad

at the crossroads

Also, at a crossroads. At a point of decision or a critical juncture, as in Because of the proposed merger, the company is standing at the crossroads. This phrase, based on the importance accorded to the intersection of two roads since ancient times, has also been used figuratively just about as long. In the 1500s Erasmus quoted from the Greek Theognis’s Elegies (c. 600 b.c.): “I stand at the crossroads.”

See also: crossroad

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

at a (or the) crossroads

at a critical point, when decisions with far-reaching consequences must be made.

See also: crossroad

at a critical point, when decisions with far-reaching consequences must be made.

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

at a ˈcrossroads

at a stage where a decision has to be made:

He’s at a crossroads in his career — either he stays in his current job and waits for promotion, or he accepts this new post in Brazil.

See also: crossroad

at the crossroads

At a critical juncture or turning point. The place where two roads intersect has had special significance from ancient times. Some tribes used a crossroads as a place for religious sacrifices, and hence they came to be associated with execution. In Christian times, criminals and those who died by their own hand often were buried at a crossroads (since they could not be buried in consecrated ground). Crossroads also were a favorite spot for ambushes, highway robbery, and other nefarious deeds. The phrase “dirty work at the crossroads” crops up throughout the nineteenth century, as well as in a spate of twentieth-century murder mysteries. The idea of a figurative crossroads, a point of having to decide which road to take, is also very old. Erasmus quotes a fragment from the Greek poet Theognis’s Elegies, dating from about 600 b.c., translated as “I stand at the crossroads.”

See also: crossroad