collision course

American  

noun

1. a course or path of a vehicle, projectile, etc., that, if unchanged, will lead to a collision with another object.

2. any plan, attitude, or course of action that leads to a confrontation or conflict with another.

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Etymology

Origin of collision course

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

And that set the biggest car market in the nation on a collision course, with Detroit, and with Washington, D.C.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

A reliance on Kurdish fighters could also put the United States and Israel on a collision course with Pahlavi.

From Barron's • Mar. 5, 2026

European and American mores on speech are on a collision course.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 21, 2026

England and Ireland would also be kept apart from each other until the semis, while the Springboks and All Blacks would be on a quarter-final collision course, ensuring one would fall before the last four.

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2025

He remained convinced that romantic behavior was basically monotonous and predictable, and that therefore one could write a fairly straightforward formula that would predict the collision course of any two people.

From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green