Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Crossroads |
CrossroadsNoun1. A community of people smaller than a village. 2. A crisis situation or point in time when a critical decision must be made; "at that juncture he had no idea what to do"; "he must be made to realize that the company stands at a critical point". 3. A point where a choice must be made; "Freud's work stands at the crossroads between psychology and neurology". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "crossroads" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
Synonyms: CrossroadsSynonyms: critical point (n), hamlet (n), juncture (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The word is more often used as an abstraction of places or occasions where people meet. The Latin word trivia (literally "three roads") is a place where three roads meet, and has given name to the kind of trivial smalltalk that always occurs at such places.
Factual dispute! See Talk page. Crossroads is also a British television soap opera set in a motel near Birmingham. It was first broadcast on ITV between 1964 and 1988. The programme was made by ATV until the company lost its broadcast franchise at the end of end of 1981, and thereafter by ATV's successor Central. Very few archive recordings exist because ATV wiped and re-used most of the videotapes. It was subsequently revived as a Carlton Television production (Carlton having bought Central and acquired the rights to all ATV programmes) in 2001. The relaunched series was broadcast at 5PM on weekdays on ITV1, but did not receive the expected ratings and was finally cancelled in May 2003. In addition, Crossroads is also the name of a 2002 Hollywood movie featuring Britney Spears and her younger sister Jamie Spears. They both play Lucy in it.
Crossroads is also the name of a 1986 cult film featuring a cameo performance from guitarist Steve Vai as the devil's guitar player, Jack Butler.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Crossroads."
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I had to be up at that there crossroads last midnight, to sell my soul to the devil. (O Brother, Where Art Thou?; writing credit: Ethan Coen) We meet at a crossroads in history. (Taxi Driver; writing credit: Paul Schrader) | |
Lyrics | WHEN YOU'RE STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS (I'LL STAND BY YOU; performing artist: The Pretenders) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Crossroads Crash (1973) Crossroads (1964) Coal at the Crossroads (1955) Crossroads (1955) Canyon Crossroads (1955) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books | |
Periodicals | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 14 May 1946, while being prepared for use as a target for the Operation "Crossroads" atomic bomb tests. Note her battery of sixteen 21-inch torpedo tubes, in quadruple mountings amidships. Credit: NAVY. |  | Scene in the ship's Radio Central compartment, during Operation "Crossroads", 5 June 1946. Among the radio equipments present are CFT-46154 (left center) and CRV-46148 (right) radio receivers, identified by their Bureau of Ships data plates. Note photographic data board on the desk, in lower left. Credit: NAVY. |
 | View of the ship's forward portion, probably taken soon after she had been used as a target during the July 1946 Operation "Crossroads" atomic bomb tests. Note test structure on her bow and the apparently scorched condition of her paint. Credit: NAVY. |  | Hitler trapped at crossroads to retreat, Russia, France, and Czechoslavaki. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | The derriere seems to have reached another crossroads. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Roadside at crossroads. Boundary County, Idaho. General caption 49. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Some residents of Ledyard, Connecticut, receiving their mail from mail carrier at a crossroads. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Aunt Harriet McClintock, dancing for John A. Lomax as she sang "Shing, Shing," at the crossroads near Sumterville, Ala. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Operation Crossroads Africa. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Public forum : women's rights at the crossroads. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | They went into the store which stood at the crossroads, and there were many pickers in the store, buying their supplies. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Venezuela | As 2001 proceeds, the Venezuelan economy is at a crossroads. (references) |
Cyprus | By 3700 BC, the island was well-inhabited, a crossroads between East and West. (references) | |
Hungary | As has historically been the case, Hungary is a crossroads for trade in Europe. (references) | |
Political Economy | UKRAINE | Ukraine is an emerging market at the crossroads of Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, and holds great potential as a new market for U.S. trade and investment. (references) |
Georgia | Georgia's development as a stable, democratic country, increasingly integrated into the global economy, remains a key U.S. interest in this crossroads region between Russia, Iran and Turkey. (references) | |
Paraguay | The informal economy, estimated at 50 percent of the value of the formal sector, has shrunk considerably in the last few years and suffered a severe blow with the implementation of stricter border controls by the Brazilian Government on the important crossroads of Cuidad del Este. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Sally Jessy Raphael | Well, they never said that to me. So I don't know. What they have said to me is I'm in pain. What they have said to me is, I'm at a crossroads and I have nowhere to go. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | The Persian Gulf has been a vital crossroads for trade between Europe and Asia at many key moments in history. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Crossroads" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.40% of the time. "Crossroads" is used about 496 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.4% | 493 | 12,167 |
| Noun (plural) | 0.4% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.2% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 496 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| USA | Crossroads Systems Incorporated |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
1. Crossroads, NM |
Expressions using "crossroads": at a crossroads ♦ at the crossroads ♦ Bailey's Crossroads ♦ Owens Crossroads ♦ Powells Crossroads. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "crossroads"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | udhëkryq (crossing, crossroad), rrugë kryqëzuese. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | مفترق (intersection), ملتقى طرق (crossways, intersection, junction), تقاطع طرق (interchange, intersect, intersection, level crossing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Breton | c'hroashent. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | пресечка (confluence, crossing, cross-roads, intersection, transversal, turning). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 逵 (thoroughfare), 馗 (cheekbone, high), 十字路口. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Croatian | raskrižju. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | křižovatka (crossing, intersection, junction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | vejkryds (crossing, crossroadsÖøø ø è>ô:, intersection, junction, road junction), vejknudepunkt (interchange, junction, junction of highway and motor road), T-kryds, niveauskæring (junction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | wegkruising (cross roads), viersprong (cross roads), rechte kruising, kruispunt (cross roads), kruising (intersection). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | risteys (crossing, junction), liittymä (intersection, junction, subscription). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | carrefour (crossing, crossroadsÖøø ø è>ô:). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | wegkreuzung (road junction, road junktion), wegkreuz (wayside cross), T-förmige Kreuzung (T-intersection), straßenkreuzung (cross roads, crossroad, intersection, level crossing), scheideweg, rechtwinklige Kreuzung (T-intersection), kreuzung (cross, crossbreed, cross-breed, cross-breeding, crossing, crosswalk, hybrid, hybridization, interbreeding, interchange, intersection, junction), Knotenpunkt (intersection, junction, nodal point), Knoten (bun, burl, hitch, kink, kinks, knop, knot, knurl, knurls, lump, nodal, node, nodes, plot, snarl, to kink, to knot, tophus, tuber). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σταυροδρόμι (crossroad, intersection). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | פרשת "רכים (crossway, intersection, junction), "צטלבות "רכים, צומת "רכים (crossway, intersection, road junction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | útkeresztezõdés (crossroad, highroad crossing, highway-crossing, intersection, junction). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | silang empat. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Irish | crosbhóthar, chrosbhóthar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | incrocio (cross, crossbreed, crossing, crossroad, intersection, mongrel). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 岐路 (forked road). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | きろ (forked road, one's way back), ぶ"きて" (division point, junction, parting of ways), ふたすじみち (branch roads), ふたみち (branch roads, forked roads, two ways), か"とう (crucial point, fighting bravely, going the whole distance, Kantou, official rank, opening page of book, pitching a whole game, top of a pole), わかれみち (branch, branch road, forked road, parting of the ways, turning point), よつつじ (intersection), よつかど (four corners), じゅうじがい (street crossing), じゅうじろ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 교차로. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luxembourgish | kräizung. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maya | xa'ay-beh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | veikryss (cross roads, intersection). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ossroadscray cruzamento (concourse, criss-cross, crossbreed, crossing, crossroad, folding, frog, interlacement, lathing, network, turnabout, turning). (various references) la rãscruce (at the crossroads). (various references) перекресток (crossing, crossroad, cross-roads, intersection, junction, turning). (various references) raskrsnica (circus, cross-roads, intersection, junction), raskršće (intersection). (various references) cruces de caminos, intersección (intersection), entronque (junction), encrucijada. (various references) vägkorsning (carfax, cross roads, cross-roads, intersection, junction). (various references) kavşak (confluence, conflux, crossroad, interchange, intersection, junction, road junction), dörtyol ağzı (cross, junction), dört yol ağzı, dönüm noktası (catastrophe, climacteric, climax, crisis, crossroad, milestone, turning point, watershed). (various references) зatryk. (various references) роздоріжжя (carfax, crossing, divarication, intersection, parting), перехрестя (conjunction, crossing, turning). (various references) korosmaa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | tilla. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | quadrivium. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Crossroads" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: crossrouds. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "crossroads" (pronounced krô"srō'dz) |
| 4 | -r ō' d z | inroads, railroads. |
| 3 | -ō' d z | anodes, boatloads, carloads, caseloads, cathodes, diodes, episodes, nematodes, overloads, payloads, planeloads, shiploads, truckloads, workloads. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-o-o-r-r-s-s-s" | |
-1 letter: crossroad. | |
-3 letters: sordors. | |
-4 letters: across, ardors, sarods, scrods, sordor. | |
-5 letters: ardor, cards, carrs, codas, cords, crass, cross, doors, dorrs, dorsa, dross, odors, orcas, ordos, roads, roars, roods, sards, sarod, saros, scads, scars, scrod, soars, sodas, soras, sords. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Spoken 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Names: Company Usage | 13. Cities 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Translations: Ancient 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
