deadlock
Americannoun
-
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
-
a state of affairs in which further action between two opposing forces is impossible; stalemate
-
a tie between opposite sides in a contest
-
a lock having a bolt that can be opened only with a key
verb
Other Word Forms
- undeadlocked adjective
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.
For those who were not fans of the existing ways to break a deadlock, the final straw came four months later.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
The BBC understands that the Hillsborough Law campaign's legal team will be in parliament next week to meet MPs in an effort to break the deadlock and galvanise support.
From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026
The European Commission has mustered a team to try to break the deadlock over Ukraine.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
Garfield 3, Venice 2: The Bulldogs scored a run in the ninth on an error to break a 2-2 deadlock.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 14, 2026
We have gone through a pretense of truce and reformation, straight into deadlock.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
