MEANING
To misunderstand one another because each person has a different understanding of the same situation.
Use it for
explaining a misunderstanding about an arrangement; describing two people acting on different information; acknowledging a communication mix-up without assigning dishonesty; clarifying why expectations did not matchSpecifies people working with different understandings of the same arrangement or message. Writing functions: Communication / Mutual misunderstanding. Semantic categories (by meaning): Communication / Mutual misunderstanding. Contexts: General conversation; Creative prose.
Words that belong together
- get our wires crossed about something
- have your wires crossed
On the page
We got our wires crossed: I booked Tuesday, and you arrived on Thursday.
They had their wires crossed about who was supposed to collect the parcel.
Word forms
- Base
- get your wires crossed
Usage notes
Verbal idiom: get/gets/got/got or gotten/getting one’s wires crossed. Possessive changes: we got our wires crossed. Also have one’s wires crossed. Register: informal. Commonness: common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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