crossed wires
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.73 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
1
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
noun
A mixup or confusion that results from getting one's wires crossed.
Example Sentences
- "Another common pattern you might see in yourself as you use the cycle is “crossed wires.” If you were raised by parents who weren't aware of their own feelings, they probably weren't accurate in recognizing yours. As a consequence, you may not have received all the direct and indirect messages you needed in order to know the difference between, for instance, feeling hungry and tired, or feeling lonely and sad."
- "There are bound to be crossed wires and unforeseen problems, so prepare for them."
- "The trouble for those who are still young when parents die is that it makes this process much more difficult. Young children are especially at risk from these kind of 'crossed wires'."