a dead end
/ə ˌded ˈend/NEUTRAL · B2
Meaning
a situation in which no more progress is possible
Examples
- 1The police investigation reached a dead end when the only witness moved abroad.
- 2Tom felt his job was a dead end, so he started evening classes in design.
- 3Every idea we tried for fixing the leak led to a dead end, so we called a plumber.
- 4The talks hit a dead end when neither side would move on price.
- 5Is this search a dead end, or should we keep looking for Gran's old letters?
Grammar
Countable: a dead end, dead ends. Before a noun it is written dead-end. It often follows reach, hit or lead to.
More idioms about travel
All 20 idioms and the topic quiz →water under the bridgepast problems that no longer matter or cause bad feelingshit the roadto leave a place and start a journeyin the middle of nowherefar from any towns, with very few people arounda stone's throwa very short distance awayoff the beaten trackin a quiet place that few visitors go toget itchy feetto start wanting to travel or do something new
English Idioms400 idioms in 20 topics — with reviews that keep them from fading
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