crossroads

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crossroads

1. plural of crossroad

crossroads (plural crossroads)

2. A place where one road crosses another; an intersection of two or more roads.

   Near-synonym: intersection

   • 2010, M. K. Hobson, The Native Star:

     When they came to a crossroads where the road split off into four cardinal directions, Stanton stood squinting up at the signpost for a long time.

3. (figuratively, by extension) A centrally located position.
   • 2005, Jake Logan, Slocum and the Sierra Madras Gold:

     The shiny wet black triangle at the crossroads of where her legs split.

   • 2018, Rail, issue 857, July 18-July 31, article on Severn Bridge Junction signal box at Shrewsbury:

     Together they control the approaches to this important railway crossroads from Chester, Crewe, Wolverhampton, Hereford and Machynlleth, and the station itself via an unusual mix of semaphore and colour light signals.

5. (figuratively, by analogy) A decision point; a turning point or opportunity to change a direction, a course, or a goal.
   • 1992 March 30, Richard Nixon, 13:46 from the start, in Richard Nixon on ‘Inside Washington’‎^[1], Richard Nixon Foundation, via Seoul Broadcasting System, archived from the original on 09 October 2017‎^[2]:

     Well Russia at the present time is at a crossroads. It is often said that the Cold War is over and that the West has won it- that's only half true. Because what has happened is that the communists have been defeated, but the ideas of freedom now are on trial. If they don't work, there will be a reversion to, not communism which has failed, but what I call a new despotism which would pose a mortal danger to the rest of the world because it would be infected with the virus of Russian imperialism which of course has been a characteristic of Russian foreign policy for centuries.

6. (nonstandard) A fork in the road.
   • 1955, Therese Pol, The judge and his hangman, translation of original by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, page 48:

     But first he stopped his car at the crossroads where the highway forked off to Gastmann's house.

   • 2005, Phil Nordyke, All American, all the way: the combat history of the 82nd Airborne, page 723:

     The Company A commander, Captain Helmer, was at the crossroads where the road split, with the left fork leading to Udenbreth, when he saw a group of men coming toward him.

   • 2010, Raeanne Thayne, A Cold Creek Baby, page 199:

     When she reached the crossroads where the trail split, one part of her yearned to head toward the lake.

• (decision point): turning point, watershed