Meanings
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of cross wires
- pluralplural onlyA mixup or confusion that results from getting one's wires crossed.
There are bound to be crossed wires and unforeseen problems, so prepare for them.
2001, Joan Peters, Not Your Mother's Life, page 2382 more examples
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.
1997, Laurel Mellin, The Solution: 6 Winning Ways to Permanent Weight Loss, page 165The 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'.
2013, Rebecca Abrams, When Parents Die: Learning to Live with the Loss of a Parent, page 112
Cite this entry
crossed wires. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crossed%20wires
“crossed wires.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crossed%20wires. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crossed wires,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crossed%20wires.
Source: crossed wires on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.