impasse
Americannoun
-
a position or situation from which there is no escape; deadlock.
- Synonyms:
- dead end, standoff, standstill, stalemate
-
a road or way that has no outlet; cul-de-sac.
noun
Etymology
Origin of impasse
1850–55; < French, equivalent to im- im- 2 + -passe, stem of passer to pass
Explanation
When two huge semi trailers met face-to-face on a one-lane mountain road, the drivers jumped out of their cabs and exclaimed, "We're at an impasse! We can't move forward — we can only reverse and go back in the direction from which we came." If you investigate impasse a little more closely, you'll discover passer, the French word for to pass. The im- prefix is a negative, meaning that there's no way any passing is going to occur. It's impossible. An impasse is any situation in which the parties involved can't, or won't, move forward or make any sort of progress. Either they are literally stuck, like two big trucks trying to pass each other on a narrow road, or they are figuratively stuck, as in two politicians who are unable to reach an agreement on a new policy.
Vocabulary lists containing impasse
This Week in Words: January 20 - 26, 2018
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This Week in Words: March 16–22, 2019
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "I"
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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.
Words like “incompetent” can feel good in the heat of the moment, but they rarely help to resolve an impasse such as this.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026
After more than five weeks of working without pay due to a funding impasse, most TSA employees received two, full retroactive paychecks on Monday, according to union officials and a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
TSA agents, who manage US airport security, have not been paid in more than a month due to the impasse.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
"I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country," Musk posted on X.
From Barron's • Mar. 21, 2026
By February 1922, nine months after the murders of Whitehorn and Anna Brown, the investigations into the cases seemed to have reached a permanent impasse.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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.
