cul-de-sac

[ kuhl-duh-sak, -sak, kool-; French kyduh-sak ]
See synonyms for cul-de-sac on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural culs-de-sac [kuhlz-duh-sak, -sak, koolz-; French kyduh-sak]. /ˈkʌlz dəˈsæk, -ˌsæk, ˈkʊlz-; French küdəˈsak/.
  1. a street, lane, etc., closed at one end; blind alley; dead-end street.

  2. any situation in which further progress is impossible.

  1. the hemming in of a military force on all sides except behind.

  2. Anatomy. a saclike cavity, tube, or the like, open only at one end, as the cecum.

Origin of cul-de-sac

1
1730–40; <French: literally, bottom of the sack

Words Nearby cul-de-sac

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cul-de-sac in a sentence

  • He feared that he would either be shot or left to starve in this cul-de-sac in the hills.

    Hidden Gold | Wilder Anthony
  • It was not the kind of cul-de-sac that Goritz would have chosen.

    The Secret Witness | George Gibbs
  • Gradually a distant line of pack, which had been visible for some time, closed in and the ship ran into a cul-de-sac.

    The Home of the Blizzard | Douglas Mawson
  • To enter the little Cafe in the cul-de-sac Le Febvre was, at the period of our tale, to enter the sanctum of a man of genius.

  • He stepped up his pace slightly, and in a moment they turned abruptly into a darkened cul-de-sac.

    The Dark Door | Alan Edward Nourse

British Dictionary definitions for cul-de-sac

cul-de-sac

/ (ˈkʌldəˌsæk, ˈkʊl-) /


nounplural culs-de-sac or cul-de-sacs
  1. a road with one end blocked off; dead end

  2. an inescapable position

  1. any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum

Origin of cul-de-sac

1
C18: from French, literally: bottom of the bag

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012