crossroads.

1. A place where roads intersect.

2. A place where cultures, trade routes, or other networks converge.

3. A decisive stage at which an important choice between different future paths must be made.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• busy crossroads
• cultural crossroads
• crossroads of trade

On the page

An inn stood at the crossroads because travelers from four towns stopped there.

The port was a crossroads of languages as well as cargo.

Two dangerous crossroads lay between the school and her home.

Usage notes

Primary category: setting. Singular and plural are both crossroads: a crossroads, several crossroads. The figurative turning-point sense is related but does not establish a place. Count noun with unchanged plural: one crossroads; two crossroads.