deadlock
Americannoun
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deadlocks
plural
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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)
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deadlocks,
present (3rd person singular)
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deadlocked,
past participle, past
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deadlocking
present participle
noun
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a state of affairs in which further action between two opposing forces is impossible; stalemate
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a tie between opposite sides in a contest
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a lock having a bolt that can be opened only with a key
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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deadlocksimple
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deadlockssimple
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have deadlockedperfect
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has deadlockedperfect
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am deadlockingprogressive
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are deadlockingprogressive
-
is deadlockingprogressive
-
have been deadlockingperfect progressive
-
has been deadlockingperfect progressive
Past
-
deadlockedsimple
-
had deadlockedperfect
-
was deadlockingprogressive
-
were deadlockingprogressive
-
had been deadlockingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
Brentford should have been ahead before Keane Lewis-Potter broke the deadlock after 12 minutes, the contest effectively over when Vitaly Janelt doubled their lead before half-time.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The Security Council straw poll was devised in the early 1980s in an attempt to break a deadlock between two candidates shut down by vetoes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The five-month deadlock was on full display in recent days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
It began in the early 1980s in an attempt to break a deadlock between two candidates whose bids were shut down by vetoes.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
What made the scheme novel was that for the first time it decoupled a test moratorium from all other disarmament issues, thereby removing the major cause of the deadlock between the two countries.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
If the jury deadlocks after several days of deliberations and are unable to reach a unanimous verdict, the judge may declare a mistrial.
From Seattle Times ● May 29, 2024
One reason our discovery is exciting is because it hints at ways to work through specific political deadlocks.
From Scientific American ● Mar. 1, 2023
Amid the deadlocks over the U.N. role in Ukraine, broader reform ideas have gained steam, including support for increasing the number of permanent Security Council members.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 6, 2022
If the board of canvassers — two Democrats and two Republicans — deadlocks at its meeting on Aug. 31, the next step will be the courts.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
We hear no more of deadlocks or of the danger of breaking up.
From The Fathers of Confederation A Chronicle of the Birth of the Dominion by A. H. U. (Arthur Hugh Urquhart) Colquhoun
The earlier trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht collapsed after a jury deadlocked on whether or not he was responsible for the Palisades fire that laid waste to the upmarket coastal enclave and nearby Malibu.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
That theory failed to win over the jury, which deadlocked 10-2 for acquittal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
U.S. stocks slid as negotiations about the future of the Strait of Hormuz remain deadlocked.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
After the jury appeared deadlocked Thursday afternoon, Asst.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
A jury eventually convicted all three of battery but acquitted one of the students of the hate-crime charge and deadlocked on the others.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
The jury in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs will keep deliberating after reaching a partial verdict, but deadlocking on the most serious charge faced by the hip-hop mogul.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2025
Jurors could not agree on a verdict on her allegations, deadlocking 8-4 in favor of conviction.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2023
The judge instructed them to deliver the partial verdict, which acquitted Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta while deadlocking on the charges against Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
It fell one vote short, deadlocking at 7 to 7.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2022
My mother was asleep; she was as deadlocking as a red-gray old sea-elephant stretched on the shore of a summer day.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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.
