crisscross
Americanverb (used with object)
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to move back and forth over.
students crisscrossing the field on their way to school.
-
to mark with crossing lines.
verb (used without object)
adjective
noun
-
a crisscross mark, pattern, etc.
adverb
-
in a crisscross manner; crosswise.
-
awry; askew.
verb
-
to move or cause to move in a crosswise pattern
-
to mark with or consist of a pattern of crossing lines
adjective
noun
-
a pattern made of crossing lines
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a US term for noughts and crosses
adverb
Etymology
Origin of crisscross
First recorded in 1810–20; variant of christcross
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Alarnab spent three months crisscrossing Europe in the back of lorries, aboard trains, on foot and even on a bicycle before he reached the UK.
From Barron's
Mother and Father crisscrossed the floorboards, wiggled the front door latch, listened to the individual creak of each stair.
From Literature
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Nearby were partial skeletons of long necked dinosaurs preserved in river sediments, pointing to a forested inland environment crisscrossed by waterways.
From Science Daily
The broader region is crisscrossed by active fault lines created as the African Plate presses northeastward against the Hellenic Plate.
From Science Daily
For hours, she crisscrossed the city looking for a stocked supermarket.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.