crosshair

noun

cross·​hair ˈkrȯs-ˌher 

: a fine wire or thread in the focus of the eyepiece of an optical instrument used as a reference line in the field or for marking the instrumental axis

—used figuratively to describe someone or something being targeted as if through an aiming device having crosshairs

The tactics landed the company's top brass in the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

—Houston Chronicle

Examples of crosshair in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, however, Brazil’s multi-billion dollar agricultural trade with Tehran could land it back in Washington’s crosshairs, Reuters reported. —Jeronimo Gonzalez, semafor.com, 14 Jan. 2026

Mohammadi has been in and out of the crosshairs of Iran’s authoritarian Islamic Republic regime over the past two decades. —Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 14 Jan. 2026

Until the federal government put the city in its crosshairs. —Jennifer Brooks, Mercury News, 9 Jan. 2026

If Europe does not draw a line in the sand now, who knows where American crosshairs will eventually drift? —Séamus Malekafzali, Washington Post, 8 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1684, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for crosshair

• abwehr
• affair
• affaire
• airfare
• altair
• armchair
• aware
• beware
• bugbear
• carfare
• childcare
• compare

Kids Definition

cross hair

noun

: one of the very thin wires or threads in the eyepiece of an optical instrument (as a microscope) used as a reference line