Meanings
- broadlynot comparableDifficult to deal with; contrary or troublesome.
It is quite wonderful to me, in such a cross-grained, hardening, and harsh world as ours, where she can have contrived to keep so much of open, fresh, and kindly feeling.
1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, pages 151–1522 more examples
It was my old cross-grained companion, Professor Summerlee. "What!" he cried. "Don't tell me that you have had one of these preposterous telegrams for oxygen?" I exhibited it.
1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLCFor five minutes, Tommy sat on the bed in the dingy room next door. His heart was beating violently. He had risked all on this throw. How would they decide? And all the while that this agonized questioning went on within him, he talked flippantly to Conrad, enraging the cross-grained doorkeeper to the point of homicidal mania.
1922, Agatha Christie, “Chapter 16”, in The Secret Adversary
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecharacterized by self-willed opposition
adjectiveof timber; having fibers running irregularly rather than in parallel
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Irish cros-snáitheach
- cros-snáitheachof timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
Māori hūmengemenge, rīrapa
- hūmengemengeof timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
- rīrapaof timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
- tahatongaof timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
- takawiriof timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
Polish czeczotowaty
- czeczotowatyof timber: having an irregular rather than a parallel grain
Cite this entry
cross-grained. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cross-grained
“cross-grained.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cross-grained. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cross-grained,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cross-grained.
Source: cross-grained on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.