fork in the road
11
3.7
- noun
:
encrucijada (figurado)
- Six years ago, she reached a fork in the road of her life and went off in a different direction from him.
- come to a fork in the road
- take the fork in the road
And I remember that fork in the road where I thought, what do I do?
- And I remember that fork in the road where I thought, what do I do?
- I'm not wasn't crazy far off, but clearly there was a fork in the road somewhere and I went the wrong way.
- We're at a cusp, a fork, probably better call it a fork in the road.
- But then you learn that actually the father, Archie, that he had a real fork in the road moment.
- We're when you're faced with a decision, a fork in the road, OK, do I let this blow over or not?
- In your business where you're going to have to face a metaphorical fork in the road.
- It was because of that, that was the fork in the road for me that my friends ended up going to jail and I ended up going free that day.
- Basically, I I came to to a, you know, a fork in the road where I could either go full tinfoil hat, go live off the grid.
- So I am still at this moment of before us is a fork in the road.
Examples
-
And I remember that fork in the road where I thought, what do I do?
-
As the project progresses, each decision is like a fork in the road.
Academic text (1998) -
When you come to a fork in the road, you take it.
-
People come to a fork in the road.
-
You need to go about 10 miles down the road, and make a right at the fork in the road.
-
We are at a fork in the road.
Academic text (2010) -
After they had traveled for three days, they came to a fork in the road.
Academic text (2008) -
The town center was nestled around the fork in the road at the top of the hill.
Fiction book (2002) -
It looks like we've come to a fork in the road.
-
When you reach a fork in the road, decide which path you want to take.
Synonyms
75
3.8
A place where a road, river, or path divides into two branches
6
8.6
A point where a road or river splits into two
5
3.9
A time when you must make an important choice that affects the future
Antonyms
21
6.5
Different ideas, methods, or technologies coming together and becoming more similar
How Critical
Surface Forms
Morphology
The literal sense is directly compositional: 'fork' (a point where a path divides) + 'in the road' denotes a location where the road splits, which a B1 learner who knows the words can derive. The figurative meaning 'a point where a critical decision must be made' is a conventional, cross-linguistic spatial-to-decision metaphor and is therefore predictable from the constituents as well.
Etymology
Fork in the road comes from the picture of a road that splits into two ways, like the two parts of a fork. When people on the road reached this split they had to choose which way to go, so the phrase now means 'a point where an important decision must be made'.