dead end
noun
something, as a street or water pipe, that has no exit.
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:
Plenty of plans allow one and not the other, which is a dead end.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 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
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
The island is inching closer to a humanitarian crisis, and its insolvent government faces a dead end.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
After traveling through miles of tunnels, the rat and the robot came to a dead end.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
"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
He saw right away that he and Eric needed college degrees to avoid dead-end jobs in taller buildings.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
But the tips and leads they received led to dead-ends, and so the case remained unsolved for 47 years.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2025
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
Police said the vehicle struck the pub after traveling up North Courthouse Road, which dead-ends directly in front where the road intersects with Wilson Boulevard.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2022
Still, I push forward on my bike, flying down the last stretch of road, which dead-ends into the Pacific Coast Highway and the beach just beyond.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The street dead-ended at some railroad tracks, beyond which flowed the St. Johns River.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 26, 2021
Early inquiries with foreign studios dead-ended in a thicket of legal fears and uncertainty over who — if anyone — possessed the missing material.
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2018
The college grad with a geology degree who found himself dead-ended in the oil and gas industry.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 24, 2018
Imagine walking through a maze, for years and years, to find that your path has dead-ended near the exit.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 19, 2017
We walked one way down Wakeling looking for Rookery until it dead-ended at a large open sewer which Enoch said was the River Fleet, then turned and came back the other way.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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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