across

across — adverb

1. to the far side after moving over a road, river, field, or other space with clea

1.adverbA2
Definition

to the far side after moving over a road, river, field, or other space with clear edges.

Example

When the light turned green, the children ran safely across.

run across with no object named

The river looked wide, but Nora swam across before sunset.

swim across showing movement to the far side

Common collocations
  • get across
  • swim across
  • jump across
  • run across
Synonyms
  • over

    can be similar, but often suggests being higher than something

  • through

    focuses on going inside or within something, not simply to the far side

Grammar Patterns

walk/run/swim across

be/get across

Usage Note

Often follows verbs of movement such as 'walk', 'run', 'swim', or 'get'. If you name the road, river, or other space, use preposition sense 1 instead.

Common Mistakes

We ran across the other side before the bus came.
We ran across before the bus came.' or 'We ran to the other side before the bus came.
the adverb already includes the idea of reaching the far side.

across — preposition

across — adjective

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: preposition/1

'Across' is the best choice when movement starts at one side and ends at the far side: 'walk across the bridge'. 'Over' can be close, but it often suggests higher position or movement above something, so 'fly over the lake' does not mean touching the water. 'Through' focuses on going inside or within something, as in 'walk through the tunnel'. 'Along' follows the length of something instead of cutting from edge to edge. 'Crosswise' usually describes direction or position, not travel. A simple memory aid is this: use 'across' for edge-to-edge movement, 'through' for inside movement, and 'over' when height or covering matters most.

across ↗over ↗through ↗along ↗crosswise

Common collocations

Nouns

  • across the street
  • across the table
  • across the country
  • across the room

Adverbs

  • right across
  • straight across
  • directly across

Phrases

  • from across the room
  • right across from
  • all across the country

Prepositions

  • across from

Etymology

LatinFrenchAnglo-FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

'Across' first appeared in Middle English. It grew out of Anglo-French forms such as 'a croiz' and 'an cros', which originally referred to a crossed shape or position. English speakers later understood it as being built from the prefix 'a-' and the word 'cross'. From the basic image of one line cutting over another, the meaning widened to 'from side to side', then later to ideas such as 'on the far side' and 'throughout a whole area'. The second part, 'cross', ultimately goes back through French to Latin 'crux', meaning a cross.