deadlock
Americannoun
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a state in which progress is impossible, as in a dispute, produced by the counteraction of opposing forces; standstill; stalemate.
The union and management reached a deadlock over fringe benefits.
-
a maximum-security cell for the solitary confinement of a prisoner.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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a state of affairs in which further action between two opposing forces is impossible; stalemate
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a tie between opposite sides in a contest
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a lock having a bolt that can be opened only with a key
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deadlocksimple
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deadlockssimple
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have deadlockedperfect
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has deadlockedperfect
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am deadlockingprogressive
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are deadlockingprogressive
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is deadlockingprogressive
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have been deadlockingperfect progressive
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has been deadlockingperfect progressive
Past
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deadlockedsimple
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had deadlockedperfect
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was deadlockingprogressive
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were deadlockingprogressive
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had been deadlockingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of deadlock
Explanation
Use the noun deadlock to describe a standstill, as when two people or sides cannot move beyond a disagreement. Deadlock can also mean a game that results in an unbreakable tie or a stalemate, like when you are in a five-hour thumb-wrestling match with no winner. You can easily remember the meaning of this compound word, by thinking about its two word parts — dead + lock. The first appearance of deadlock was in The Critic, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: “I have them all at a deadlock, for every one of them is afraid to let go first.”
Vocabulary lists containing deadlock
Never Let Me Go
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Vocabulary from Vladimir Putin's Speech on Crimea
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The Egypt Game
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Deadlock between government and parliament in Kuwait, which bans political parties, has often led to cabinet reshuffles and dissolutions of the legislature over the decades, hampering investment and reforms.
From Reuters • Jul. 24, 2022
Most came and went quietly, including titles like "Cosmic Sin," "Out of Death" and "Deadlock."
From Fox News • Mar. 30, 2022
Deadlock Director and co-writer Jared Cohn’s 2021 action thriller stars Bruce Willis as a criminal leading a group of anti-government mercenaries who seize control of a nuclear power plant.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2022
Set in Devon, the story follows Tarka, one of a litter of three otter cubs, from his birth through the years and seasons to his final, fatal encounter with his long-standing enemy, Deadlock, an “otter-hound.”
From Washington Post • Dec. 14, 2020
One night Buffle's horse galloped into Deadlock Ridge, and the rider, hailing the first man he met, inquired the way to the saloon.
From Romance of California Life by Habberton, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
