parting of the ways

Idioms and Phrases

A point of divergence, especially an important one, as in When Jim decided to travel with the band and Jill wanted a more normal home life, they came to a parting of the ways . This term, which transfers a fork in a road to alternative courses of action, appears in the Bible (Ezekiel 21:21), where the king of Babylon must decide whether or not to attack Jerusalem: “[He] stood at the parting of the way.” [c. 1600]

Related Words

• departure
• disengagement
• dissolution
• divorce
• estrangement
• partition
• segregation
• split