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in the crosshairs. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
in the crosshairs, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Pronunciation
Prepositional phrase
in the crosshairs
- (literally) targeted at the point of intersection of the two perpendicular lines in a gunsight or scope
- (idiomatic) subject to close scrutiny
2021 October 20, Ben Jones, “The benefits of (and barriers to) more leisure travel by rail”, in RAIL, number 942, page 32:Industry experts are concerned that if the railway doesn't change tack, it would soon find itself out of step with the needs of the nation and in the crosshairs of a Treasury looking to slash spending.
- (idiomatic) singled out for blame, harassment, or other unwanted attention
1989 November 3, “Brilliant acting, conception drive ‘Largo Desolato’”, in The Advocate, Louisiana, USA, retrieved 27 October 2011:Nettles lives in the crosshairs, with the secret police, his sympathizers, and his now and would-be lovers making impossible demands on him.
1998 December 2, Frank Rich, “Opinion: What's Good for General Motors . . .”, in New York Times, retrieved 27 Oct. 2011:The German industrial giants that exploited slave labor during the war, from Volkswagen to Krupp, are in the crosshairs of class-action suits from Holocaust survivors.
Translations
targeted at a gunsight or scope
subject to close scrutiny
singled out for blame, harassment etc.