phrasal verb (idiom) · informal
get one's wires crossed
UK/ɡet wʌnz waɪəz krɒst/US/ɡet wʌnz waɪərz krɔst/get ONE'S WIRES CROSSED
to have a misunderstanding; to misinterpret what someone else meant
Examples
“I thought the meeting was on Tuesday — I must have got my wires crossed.”
“We got our wires crossed about the time, so she arrived an hour early.”
“Don't assume she meant to offend you; maybe you just got your wires crossed.”
Band 8 sentence
“The email exchange demonstrated how easily people can get their wires crossed when tone and context are missing.”
Collocations
- get one's wires crossed about
- have/get your wires crossed
Word family
Common mistakes
get wires crossed→get one's wires crossed
get the wires crossed→get one's wires crossed
Say it for a higher band
5misunderstand→6be confused→7+get one's wires crossed
Synonyms
misunderstand
be confused
Easily confused
misunderstand
“I misunderstood the instructions and started the wrong task.”
Related words
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