no-go

or no go

[ noh-goh ]

adjective

, Informal.

1. not authorized or approved to proceed; canceled or aborted:

   The Tuesday space launch is no-go.

2. not ready to go or proceed.
3. not functioning properly; inoperative:

   The ticket machine was no-go.

4. (of an area) having restricted entry:

   hazardous no-go zones.

noun

, Informal.

1. a plan or idea that is canceled, rejected, or otherwise fails to be realized:

   We asked to borrow the car, but that was a no-go, so we’ll have to take the bus.

Word History and Origins

Origin of no-go¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Idioms and Phrases

see no dice .

Example Sentences

“Swaths of the north are no-go areas,” said an executive at a leading oil company.

From The Daily Beast

One night, in the police no-go area of Barrowfield, I walked out with a convicted killer.

From The Daily Beast

Secure the border; ceding a no-go zone to foreign drug lords on American territory is not acceptable.

From The Daily Beast

To a young artist in the 1980s, the SoHo galleries that mattered seemed an unreachable territory, a no-go land.

From The Daily Beast

Now he was ready to put those Herculean shoulders at any other bemired and rickety no-go-cart.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• feeble
• fruitless
• futile
• impotent
• inadequate
• incompetent
• indecisive
• ineffectual
• inefficient
• inept
• limited
• null
• powerless
• unable
• unproductive
• unprofitable
• unsuccessful
• worthless