impassen.
/amˈpɑːs/, /ɪmˈpɑːs/, /ɒmˈpɑːs/, /amˈpas/, /ɪmˈpas/, /ɒmˈpas/, /ˈampɑːs/, /ˈɪmpɑːs/, /ˈɒmpɑːs/, /ˈampas/, /ˈɪmpas/, /ˈɒmpas/, U.S. /ˈɪmˌpæs/, /ɪmˈpæs/ A road or way having no outlet; a blind alley, ‘cul-de-sac’. Also figurative, a position from which there is no way of escape, a ‘fix’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > hindrance > hindering completely or preventing > [noun] > a check or rebuff > complete check or impasse
checkmatec1440
blank1542
nonplus1582
noncome1600
choke1674
dead lock1781
impasse1851
no go1870
standoff1876
gridlock1981
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > cul-de-sac > [noun]
blind lanec1386
turn-again lane1531
blind alley1582
close1723
turn-again alley1754
loke1787
cul-de-sac1800
no-thoroughfare1809
dead-ender1870
impasse1882
blind lead1885
no through road1933
1851 H. Greville Diary 381 He ought to have given battle before plunging the country into this impasse.
1874 St. G. Mivart in Manning Ess. Relig. & Lit. III. 221 It is grammar and not reason which reduces them to this impasse.
1880 Fortn. Rev. Apr. 520 They find themselves in an impasse, unable to advance or retreat.
1882 H. C. Merivale Faucit of Balliol II. i. xxiv. 108 Somewhere off Piccadilly, among the curious little impasses of the Mayfair maze.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1851