cul-de-sac
Americannoun
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culs-de-sac,
plural
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cul-de-sacs
plural
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a street, lane, etc., closed at one end; blind alley; dead-end street.
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any situation in which further progress is impossible.
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the hemming in of a military force on all sides except behind.
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Anatomy. a saclike cavity, tube, or the like, open only at one end, as the cecum.
noun
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a road with one end blocked off; dead end
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an inescapable position
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any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cul-de-sac
1730–40; < French: literally, bottom of the sack
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.
See Examples For:
The brick wall of the house, in a quiet cul-de-sac of detached homes, was caved in near the front door with smoke marks visible to the upper floor.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
The crash happened at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac of detached homes.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The annual block party on his own cul-de-sac never came back after Covid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Dharmesh Patel was a respected radiologist who appeared to live an idyllic family life in a peaceful Pasadena cul-de-sac.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
We’d play jump rope, soccer, and hopscotch in that cul-de-sac, or we’d ride our bikes round and round, making zooming noises as if they were motorcycles.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
“Torreyson is one of the most exclusive cul-de-sacs in the Hollywood Hills, surrounded by historically significant architecture, including a neighboring Richard Neutra residence, with several notable figures calling the area home.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
Your relative might lose his train of thought; another person’s relative might get stuck in verbal cul-de-sacs of nonsense.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2024
Mr. Biden spoke quickly and precisely, without entering the verbal cul-de-sacs endemic to many of his presidential speeches 28 years later.
From New York Times ● May 2, 2024
The power line was across from Lahaina Intermediate School, just beyond the cul-de-sacs at Kuialua and Hookahua streets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
In easternmost Siasconset, the gray-shingled fishermen’s cottages that occupied the corners of plots of sea grass and wildflowers are giving way to mansions in private cul-de-sacs.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Today, too many American children cannot safely leave their culs-de-sac.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Better, then, to make shows for television, a medium that is more comfortable with loose ends and narrative culs-de-sac, where he can tell a “continuing story”.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 23, 2018
Martz saw FlexBus as the key to transforming Altamonte, a loose agglomeration of palm tree-lined strip malls and culs-de-sac a few miles north of Orlando, into a thriving and walkable destination.
From The Verge ● Sep. 1, 2016
At just 22 days, the sniper probe was comparatively speedy; still, it snaked through numerous wrong turns and culs-de-sac: OCT.
From Time Magazine Archive
The boys went through the neighborhood, venturing deep into culs-de-sac and up dark sidewalks to houses that many other kids avoided.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. 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.
