dead end
noun
something, as a street or water pipe, that has no exit.
dead ends
-
pluralof dead end.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
dead-ends
-
present tense formof dead-end (3rd person singular).present tense
Used to describe things happening now or regularly.
dead endnounsomething, as a street or water pipe, that has no exit.
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:
Nepali rescuers, aided by experts from India, China and South Korea, continue searching for survivors feared trapped inside hydropower tunnels, but teams have repeatedly hit dead ends, and no one has been confirmed alive.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Whether we planned for them or not, the road is filled with obstacles, detours and dead ends.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
"No dead ends" is the philosophy which underpins Dutch education and youth employment policy - every stage of a young person's journey is designed to lead somewhere.
From BBC ● Jun. 7, 2026
“Duvall’s aging face, a road map of dead ends and dry gulches, can accommodate rage or innocence or any ironic shade in between,” the film critic Richard Corliss wrote in Time magazine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
Doors were locked; promising leads ended up as dead ends.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Page got to work looking for a writer, a process that involved many dead-ends and far too many pitches about, “a local coming out of Louisiana and now she’s a star,” Page said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 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
In Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, signs for Gibson Island dot 100 East until it bleeds into Route 177 and dead-ends at a security kiosk.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 25, 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
