parting of the ways

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Idioms and Phrases

A point of divergence, especially an important one, as in When Jim decided to travel with the band and Jill wanted a more normal home life, they came to a parting of the ways . This term, which transfers a fork in a road to alternative courses of action, appears in the Bible (Ezekiel 21:21), where the king of Babylon must decide whether or not to attack Jerusalem: “[He] stood at the parting of the way.” [c. 1600]

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April 23, 2024inveterate

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

parting line parting shot

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