dead end
noun
something, as a street or water pipe, that has no exit.
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dead end
1 Americannoun
-
dead ends
plural
-
something, as a street or water pipe, that has no exit.
-
a position that offers no hope of progress; blind alley; cul-de-sac.
His theory led him to a dead end.
dead-end
2
American
[ded-end]
/ ˈdɛdˈɛnd /
adjective
-
terminating in a dead end.
a dead-end street.
-
Also dead-ended. having no possibility for or hope of progress, advancement, etc..
a low-level, dead-end job.
-
leading a life in the slums.
growing up as a tough dead-end kid.
verb (used without object)
-
dead-ends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dead-ended,
past participle, past
-
dead-ending
present participle
dead end
British
noun
-
another name for cul-de-sac
-
a situation in which further progress is impossible
-
dead-end. ( as modifier )
a dead-end street
a dead-end job
verb
dead end
Idioms
-
A passage that has no exit, as in This street's a dead end, so turn back . [Late 1800s]
-
An impasse or blind alley, allowing no progress to be made. For example, This job is a dead end; I'll never be able to advance . [c. 1920]
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
dead-endsimple
-
dead-endssimple
-
have dead-endedperfect
-
has dead-endedperfect
-
am dead-endingprogressive
-
are dead-endingprogressive
-
is dead-endingprogressive
-
have been dead-endingperfect progressive
-
has been dead-endingperfect progressive
Past
-
dead-endedsimple
-
had dead-endedperfect
-
was dead-endingprogressive
-
were dead-endingprogressive
-
had been dead-endingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dead end1
First recorded in 1885–90
Origin of dead-end2
First recorded in 1885–90
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:
Instead of seeming like a smart pursuit, a computer-science degree started to look like it could be a dead end.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
A bill that would have allowed California insurers to track motorists driving habits in exchange for potentially lower rates has come to a dead end.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
"The first part is like a tube station, with a dead end and a platform, then from the platform smaller tunnels went at right angles."
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Despite the promising findings, the research reached a dead end because scientists could not determine the molecules' exact three dimensional structures.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 6, 2026
They wouldn’t ever think we’d go to a dead end on purpose.
From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth
"It's not a dead-end," said Incandela Lab graduate student researcher Danyi Zhang.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
But it is true that bad boys can be exhilarating until they crash and burn—like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Italian divers who died in the Maldives may have taken the wrong tunnel in a cave and died in a dead-end corridor, the head of the company that recovered their bodies told AFP Thursday.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Tucked away in rural western Maryland, past a dead-end road cut off by railroad tracks, a stream runs cool and clear over a ledge dotted with snails.
From Slate ● Apr. 27, 2026
But as I walked around its single dead-end street with a flashlight, I saw no tent.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
However, pharmaceutical companies want to recover their years of research and development costs - and the field has produced a lot of expensive duds and dead-ends.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2024
Podcasts such as The Coldest Case in Laramie and Bear Brook detail twists and turns in who-done-it style journalism, exposing dead-ends and biases in investigations that have left possible killers free for decades.
From Slate ● Jun. 4, 2023
Aberg made his own rules: walk the length of every designated neighborhood and its major streets, though short dead-ends and cul de sacs could be skipped.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2022
The researchers, from Ben-Gurion University, found the fish were able to move the FOV around unfamiliar environments while reaching the target “regardless of their starting point, all while avoiding dead-ends and correcting location inaccuracies.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2022
“This road dead-ends into the barn,” he said.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
Discussion about how race shaped James and Michelle’s experiences and ideas routinely dead-ended.
From New York Times ● May 16, 2023
Emails and calls to Amazon’s automated systems often dead-ended.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 15, 2021
At the time, Great Seneca Highway was a two-lane road that dead-ended at the entrance to Orchard Valley.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 10, 2020
He followed a trail left by the missing climbers that dead-ended in an avalanche, and sounded an alert.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2019
The corridor dead-ended at a set of metal doors.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
And just as she acts on her instructions to “get him out of his shell,” he persuades her to consider why she’ll be dead-ending it in Montauk for the foreseeable future.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
Bailey Street passes Mariachi Plaza, where mariachis hang out looking to be hired, before dead-ending at White Memorial hospital.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2022
The road’s 92-mile route winds up, over and around sheer mountain passes before dead-ending at an old mining community at its westernmost point.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2021
Meticulously pruned, terraced chardonnay vines dominated the full vista, dead-ending at the slopes of Mont Blanc off to the north.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2015
Mami pushed me into the plane, down a long aisle lined with seats dead-ending against a wall—my first glimpse of what New York would be like.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
