at loggerheads

Cultural  

1. Engaged in a head-on dispute: “Labor and management are at loggerheads in this affair, and it may be some time before they can negotiate a settlement.”

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at loggerheads Idioms  

1. Engaged in a quarrel or dispute, as in The two families were always at loggerheads, making it difficult to celebrate holidays together. This term may have come from some earlier meaning of loggerhead, referring either to a blockhead or stupid person, or to a long-handled iron poker with a bulb-shaped end that was heated in the fire and used to melt pitch. If it was the latter, it may have been alluded to as a weapon. [Late 1600s] For a synonym, see at odds.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

at loggerheads

The Republic is thus at loggerheads with itself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

On Tuesday, before Svyrydenko's announcement, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk -- at loggerheads with the country's nationalist president on a number of fronts -- sought to defuse the tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

More than a year later, they are at loggerheads on a major potential fix that could cost $50,000 per airplane.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

For many, having the government on their side helps when they are at loggerheads with pre-teens desperate to get onto social media.

From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026

No doubt we’ll be at loggerheads again pretty soon.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

Related Words

• aggressive
• antagonistic
• bellicose
• combative
• contentious
• hostile
• ornery
• quarrelsome