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across. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
across, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
across in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
across you have here. The definition of the word
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across, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English acros, from early Middle English a-croiz, a-creoyz, from Anglo-Norman an (“in, on”) + croiz (“in the form of a cross”); Equivalent to a- + cross. More at cross.
Pronunciation
Preposition
across
- To, toward, or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
We rowed across the river.
Fortunately, there was a bridge across the river.
He came across the street to meet me.
- On the opposite side of (something that lies between two points of interest).
That store is across the street.
- (Southern US, African-American Vernacular) across from: on the opposite side, relative to something that lies between, from (a point of interest).
- 1994 June 21, Thong P Tong <[email protected]>, "Re: Battle Tech Center", message-ID <[email protected]>, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games, Usenet :
- And make sure you're parked across the mall in the outside lot. Last time I was there, I parked in a parking structure and paid an arm and a leg for it.
1995, Ronald Kessler, Inside the White House, published 1996, →ISBN, page 243:On another occasion, Clinton asked Patterson to drive him to Chelsea's school, Booker Elementary, where Clinton met the department store clerk and climbed into her car.
"I parked across the entrance and stood outside the car looking around, about 120 feet from where they were parked in a lot that was pretty well lit," Patterson recalled. " […] They stayed in the car for thirty to forty minutes."
2011, Danielle Butler, Scars of Eternity, page 30:A boy that sat across me politely introduced himself as Jackson Klausner.
- From one side to the other within (a space being traversed).
The meteor streaked across the sky.
He walked across the room.
Could you slide that across the table to me, please?
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.
- At or near the far end of (a space).
2004, Josephine Cox, Lovers and Liars, →ISBN, page 78:"Mam's baking and Cathleen's asleep. I've got a pile of washing bubbling in the copper, so I'd best be off." With that she was across the room and out the door.
- Spanning.
This poetry speaks across the centuries.
- Throughout.
All across the country, voters were communicating their representatives.
2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 172:Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."
- So as to intersect or pass through or over at an angle.
Lay the top stick across the bottom one.
She had straps fastened across the conduit every six feet.
2010, Alex Bledsoe, The Girls with Games of Blood, Tor, →ISBN, page 147:He parked across the end of the driveway, blocking her in.
- In possession of full, up-to-date information about; abreast of.
2019 September 20, Lenore Taylor, The Guardian:As a regular news reader I thought I was across the eccentricities of the US president.
Related terms
Translations
from the far side
- Afrikaans: oor (af)
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
- Amharic: please add this translation if you can
- Arabic: عَبْرَ (ar) (ʕabra)
- Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
- Armenian: վրայով (vrayov), միջով (miǰov)
- Assamese: please add this translation if you can
- Asturian: al traviés
- Aymara: please add this translation if you can
- Azerbaijani: üstündən, üzərindən, içindən, ortasından, arasından
- Bashkir: аша (aşa)
- Egyptian Arabic: خلال (ḵelaal)
- Belarusian: праз (praz), упо́перак (upópjerak)
- Bengali: please add this translation if you can
- Breton: please add this translation if you can
- Bulgarian: през (bg) (prez)
- Catalan: a través de
- Cherokee: ᏗᎦᎾᏗᎯᏍᏗ (diganadihisdi)
- Chichewa: please add this translation if you can
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 橫過/横过 (zh) (héngguò)
- Corsican: please add this translation if you can
- Czech: přes (cs)
- Danish: over (da)
- Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: dwars (nl)
- Esperanto: trans (eo)
- Finnish: poikki (fi)
- Galician: please add this translation if you can
- Georgian: please add this translation if you can
- German: über (de)
- Greek: δια μέσου (dia mésou)
- Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
- Italian: attraverso (it)
- Japanese: ...の向こうに (ja) (...のむこうに, -no mukō-ni), ...を横切って (...をよこぎって, -o yokogitte), ...の向こう側に (...のむこうがわに, -no mukōgawa-ni)
- Khmer: កាត់ (km) (kat)
- Korean: 가로질러 (ko) (garojilleo)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: di ser ... re
- Latin: trāns (la)
- Macedonian: преку (preku)
- Malayalam: കുറുകേ (kuṟukē)
- Mirandese: atrabeç
- Polish: przez (pl), poprzez (pl)
- Portuguese: através (pt)
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: че́рез (ru) (čérez), поперёк (ru) (poperjók)
- Scottish Gaelic: thar, thairis air, tarsainn air
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: преко
- Roman: preko (sh)
- Slovak: cez, naprieč
- Slovene: čez
- Somali: please add this translation if you can
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: pśez
- Spanish: a través (es)
- Swedish: över (sv)
- Ukrainian: че́рез (čérez), упо́перек (upóperek), попере́к (poperék)
- Walloon: please add this translation if you can
- Welsh: ar draws (cy)
- West Frisian: dwers
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on the opposite side
- Arabic: عَبْرَ (ar) (ʕabra)
- Armenian: մյուս կողմում (myus koġmum), մյուս կողմը (myus koġmə), դիմացը (dimacʻə)
- Asturian: al otru llau de
- Azerbaijani: üzbəüz
- Bashkir: аша (aşa)
- Belarusian: насу́праць (nasúpracʹ), насупро́ць (nasuprócʹ)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 在對面/在对面 (zh) (zài duìmiàn)
- Czech: přes (cs)
- Danish: over (da)
- Dutch: overheen (nl), tegenover (nl)
- Esperanto: trans (eo)
- Finnish: toisella puolella
- German: gegenüber (de)
- Greek: απέναντι (el) (apénanti), αντίπερα (el) (antípera)
- Italian: attraverso (it), dall'altra parte
- Japanese: 向こう (ja) (むこう, mukō)
- Korean: 반대편에서 (ko) (bandaepyeoneseo)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: li aliyê din yê
- Macedonian: преку (preku)
- Malayalam: അപ്പുറം (ml) (appuṟaṁ)
- Polish: po drugiej stronie, naprzeciwko (pl)
- Portuguese: do outro lado de
- Romanian: dincolo de, peste (ro)
- Russian: че́рез (ru) (čérez), напро́тив (ru) (naprótiv), на друго́й стороне́ (na drugój storoné)
- Scottish Gaelic: thar, thairis air, tarsainn air
- Serbo-Croatian: prekoputa (sh)
- Slovak: cez
- Slovene: čez
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: pśez
- Spanish: al otro lado de
- Swedish: över (sv)
- Telugu: ఆవల (te) (āvala), అవతల (te) (avatala)
- Ukrainian: напро́ти (napróty), навпро́ти (navpróty)
- West Frisian: dwers
|
from one side to another
- Arabic: عَبْرَ (ar) (ʕabra)
- Armenian: մի կողմից մյուսը (mi koġmicʻ myusə)
- Asturian: al traviés
- Bashkir: аша (aşa)
- Belarusian: праз (praz)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: (no corresponding word, literally:) 從一邊到另一邊/从一边到另一边 (zh) (cóng yībiān dào lìng yībiān)
- Czech: přes (cs)
- Danish: over (da)
- Dutch: overheen (nl)
- Esperanto: trans (eo)
- Finnish: poikki (fi), halki (fi), yli (fi)
- French: à travers (fr)
- Georgian: გადასწვრივ (gadasc̣vriv), გარდიგარდმო (gardigardmo)
- German: quer (de)
- Greek: κατά πλάτος (katá plátos)
- Italian: attraverso (it)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: di ... re (ku)
- Latin: trāns (la)
- Malayalam: ഉടനീളം (ml) (uṭanīḷaṁ)
- Maori: puta noa
- Polish: przez (pl)
- Portuguese: através (pt)
- Romanian: prin (ro), peste (ro)
- Russian: че́рез (ru) (čérez), сквозь (ru) (skvozʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic: thar, thairis air, tarsainn air
- Slovak: cez, naprieč
- Slovene: prek
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: pśez
- Spanish: a través (es), atravesado (es)
- Swedish: över (sv)
- Ukrainian: через (čerez), крізь (krizʹ)
- West Frisian: dwers
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Adverb
across (not comparable)
- From one side to the other.
she helped the blind man across; the river is half a mile across
2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].
- On the other side.
If we sail off at noon, when will we be across?
- In a particular direction.
He leaned across for a book.
- (crosswords) Horizontally.
I got stuck on 4 across.
Translations
from one side to the other
in a particular direction
Noun
across (plural acrosses)
- (crosswords, often in combination) A word that runs horizontally in the completed puzzle grid or its associated clue.
- I solved all of the acrosses, but then got stuck on 3 down.
Derived terms
Further reading
- “across”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “across”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “across”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams