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

Recent reports have suggested that the Treasury and the housing department have been at loggerheads over the issue, with concerns over how a cap would impact pension funds which own freeholds.

From BBC

For the chief constable of Northern Ireland to be at loggerheads with MI5 is "unprecedented" says veteran investigative journalist, John Ware, who has reported on the Troubles since the 1970s.

From BBC

When judges have gone against the government, they have sometimes found themselves at loggerheads with the authorities.

From BBC

The government of President Emmanuel Macron has been at loggerheads with Shein for weeks after French authorities said they had found illicit products being sold on the platform.

From The Wall Street Journal

The two sides had been at loggerheads over a fee to allow British defence firms to access an enhanced share of loans issued under the pact.

From BBC

Related Words

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