dead end

 

noun

  • an end of a road or passage from which no exit is possible: the path came to a dead end
  • a road or passage from which no exit is possible: Not that way! It’s a dead end!
  • a situation offering no prospects of progress or development: their relationship had reached a dead end [as modifier]: a dead-end street

verb

[no object]
  • (dead-end) North American (of a road or passage) come to a dead end: he kept walking, until the corridor dead-ended