across
Americanpreposition
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from one side to the other of.
a bridge across a river.
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on or to the other side of; beyond.
across the sea.
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into contact with; into the presence of, usually by accident.
to come across an old friend; to run across a first edition of Byron.
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crosswise of or transversely to the length of something; athwart.
coats across the bed; straddled across the boundary line.
adverb
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from one side to another.
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on the other side.
We'll soon be across.
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crosswise; transversely.
with arms across.
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so as to be understood or learned.
He couldn't get the idea across to the class.
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into a desired or successful state.
to put a business deal across.
adjective
preposition
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from one side to the other side of
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on or at the other side of
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so as to transcend boundaries or barriers
people united across borders by religion and history
the study of linguistics across cultures
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fully informed about; dealing with
we are across this problem
adverb
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from one side to the other
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on or to the other side
Etymology
Origin of across
Explanation
Across describes something that's situated on the opposite side or the direction you have to go to get from one side to another. Thinking about swimming across the English Channel? It's 23.7 miles across from England to France, so you might want to take a boat instead. The phrase "across the board" means that all parts of something are affected. But it originally came from horse racing, to describe when someone bet equal amounts of money on a horse to come in first, second, or third place. The "board" was the blackboard where bookmakers chalked up the odds for each horse.
Vocabulary lists containing across
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.
Current forecasts suggest that the intense heat across southern and central parts of the UK this week will be short-lived compared to the three previous widespread heatwaves this summer.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
A pipeline routing oil west across Saudi Arabia to a port on the Red Sea has allowed Riyadh to keep up export volumes during the war.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
The layoffs, outlined in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday, will affect about 180 staff and contract positions across BuzzFeed and its sister brands HuffPost and Tasty.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
One group ate within a daily window of roughly eight to nine hours, while the other spread their meals across about 12 hours a day.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
I pause, feeling the breeze sweeping across the meadow.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
