- 1各說各話（兩人以為在談同一件事，其實各談各的）
Two people are at cross-purposes when they keep talking but are not really talking about the same thing — and they have not noticed yet. Each has a different aim, or a different picture in mind, so the answers do not fit the questions. It feels like a conversation, but the two lines of talk are crossing, not meeting. You almost always hear the whole phrase “at cross-purposes,” not the word standing alone. It is a little more formal than playground talk, but ordinary in stories, news, and office life. It is a kind way to name the mix-up: the problem is the aims, not that someone is slow. Groups and offices can work at cross-purposes too, when two teams pull in different directions without seeing it.
這個字說的是兩個人各談各的。他們一直在講話，卻不是在談同一件事，而且還沒發現。每個人的目的或心裡的畫面不同，所以回答和問題對不上，看起來像在對話，其實兩條線是交叉的，不是相遇的。
幾乎只會聽到整個片語「at cross-purposes」，很少單獨使用。它比玩耍時的閒聊正式一點，但在故事、新聞和辦公室生活裡很常見。
這也是一種溫和地說明誤會的方式，問題出在目的不同，不是某人反應慢。團體和公司也可能「work at cross-purposes」，就是兩個團隊朝不同方向拉，卻沒有發現。
組成cross- (going against / not in line) + purposes (aims; what you are trying to do)
同家族的字
- purposean aim; what someone is trying to do
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
cross-purposesnoun
- 1
datedA conversational game, in which questions and answers are made so as to involve ludicrous combinations of ideas.
- I danced; and so till 12 at night, and to supper, and then to cross-purposes, mighty merry; and then to bed - my eyes being sore.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
- cross-purpose
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。