Definition of "crosscurrent" [crosscurrent]

• A current flowing across another current. (noun)
• A conflicting tendency, inclination, or movement: a crosscurrent of dissent; sociopolitical crosscurrents. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Even in the darkest of Leopardi's "Canti" there is a sense of some rhythmic crosscurrent at work, as though the harsh message were being uplifted by the stately surges of the lines."
• "Analysts said Treasurys are caught in a crosscurrent of uneven, yet encouraging, data, and longer-term concerns about rising price pressures."
• "At that precise instant, the train took a bend and brought them right into a crosscurrent of wind."