cross-country

[ adjective kraws-kuhn-tree, kros-; noun kraws-kuhn-tree, -kuhn-, kros- ]

/ adjective ˈkrɔsˌkʌn tri, ˈkrɒs-; noun ˈkrɔsˈkʌn tri, -ˌkʌn-, ˈkrɒs- /

Save This Word!

adjective

directed or proceeding over fields, through woods, etc., rather than on a road or path: a cross-country race.

from one end of the country to the other: a cross-country flight.

noun, plural cross-coun·tries.

a cross-country sport or race.

QUIZ

CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?

There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?

Question 1 of 7

Which sentence is correct?

His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of cross-country

First recorded in 1760–70

Words nearby cross-country

cross-buttock, cross-check, cross colour, cross-compound, cross-correlation, cross-country, cross-country skiing, crosscourt, cross-cousin, cross-cousin marriage, cross-cultural

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cross-country in a sentence

In that country at that moment, the Catholics have practically disappeared.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Elsewhere, courts throughout the country have placed limits on speech this year.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead|Luke O’Neil|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
“This is a federal mandate that is causing some real problems for schools across the country,” Kline told a CBS affiliate in July.
The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Charles “Father” Coughlin, a raving anti-Semite, was one of the most popular radio hosts in the country.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST

It marked a groundbreaking moment in how the country viewed Jews, especially Jewish women.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?|Emily Shire|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
In the drawing-room things went on much as they always do in country drawing-rooms in the hot weather.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
In cross-section the burrows varied from round (three inches in diameter) to oval (three inches high and four inches wide).
Summer Birds From the Yucatan Peninsula|Erwin E. Klaas
Nothing remarkable occurred in our march through this country.
The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)|Daniel Defoe
There are some folk in this country, you know, who manifest a very retiring disposition at times.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for cross-country

cross-country

adjective, adverb

by way of fields, woods, etc, as opposed to roadscross-country running

across a countrya cross-country railway

noun

a long race held over open ground

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012