cul-de-sac
Americannoun
-
culs-de-sac,
plural
-
cul-de-sacs
plural
-
a street, lane, etc., closed at one end; blind alley; dead-end street.
-
any situation in which further progress is impossible.
-
the hemming in of a military force on all sides except behind.
-
Anatomy. a saclike cavity, tube, or the like, open only at one end, as the cecum.
noun
-
a road with one end blocked off; dead end
-
an inescapable position
-
any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cul-de-sac
1730–40; < French: literally, bottom of the sack
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:
About half of the homes on their cul-de-sac had children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Dharmesh Patel was a respected radiologist who appeared to live an idyllic family life in a peaceful Pasadena cul-de-sac.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Pristine, completely remodeled, two-story warm Contemporary done with great taste and quality at the end of a quiet, flat cul-de-sac street in a desirable Brentwood Hills location,” the description begins.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
"I often get into a cul-de-sac, searching up myself about what the problems are with me, and I usually assume that in time, these things will pass, so I only go if it's really serious."
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
At the end of its own cul-de-sac, it was a large modern house of the “architectural” sort, bleached cedar, its split levels and asymmetrical terraces self-consciously bare.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
With its shopping centers and cul-de-sacs carved into Joshua tree woodlands, Yucca Valley is probably the developed community most profoundly affected by the conservation law, said town manager Curtis Yakimow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2025
Your relative might lose his train of thought; another person’s relative might get stuck in verbal cul-de-sacs of nonsense.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2024
Mr. Biden spoke quickly and precisely, without entering the verbal cul-de-sacs endemic to many of his presidential speeches 28 years later.
From New York Times ● May 2, 2024
His ideas are visible nationwide, residing in meticulously planned cul-de-sacs, in spacious lawns, and in every pitched battle over efforts to build more-inclusive neighborhoods.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2023
Two dirt roads ending in cul-de-sacs had been cut into the dusty ground, although the roads had eroded so much I could barely see their outlines.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
Today, too many American children cannot safely leave their culs-de-sac.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Better, then, to make shows for television, a medium that is more comfortable with loose ends and narrative culs-de-sac, where he can tell a “continuing story”.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 23, 2018
Martz saw FlexBus as the key to transforming Altamonte, a loose agglomeration of palm tree-lined strip malls and culs-de-sac a few miles north of Orlando, into a thriving and walkable destination.
From The Verge ● Sep. 1, 2016
The pain and the pain-killers force Marlow's mind down strange old country lanes and treacherous culs-de-sac.
From Time Magazine Archive
They drive until it grows dark, without destination in mind, past hidden ponds and graveyards, culs-de-sac and dead ends.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
