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 41-year-old royal misfit has long struggled with the monarchy's strictures, shaking off the angry young man and "playboy prince" tags only to find himself at loggerheads with his closest relatives.

From Barron's ● Aug. 23, 2026

The Republic is thus at loggerheads with itself.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Switzerland's biggest bank UBS is currently at loggerheads with the government, which wants to tighten banking regulations following the implosion of Credit Suisse in 2023.

From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 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

Though we were then at loggerheads with the government, negotiations in and of themselves, I said, constituted a victory.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Related Words

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