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blind alley
noun
- a road, alley, etc., that is open at only one end.
- a position or situation offering no hope of progress or improvement:
That line of reasoning will only lead you up another blind alley.
blind alley
noun
- an alley open at one end only; cul-de-sac
- informal.a situation in which no further progress can be made
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Word History and Origins
Origin of blind alley1
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Idioms and Phrases
A dead end; a position without hope of progress or success. For example, That line of questioning led the attorney up yet another blind alley . This term alludes to a street or alley that has no outlet at one end. [Mid-1800s]Discover More
Example Sentences
I cannot put my own case to the Admiralty although the machines are wanted for overland tactics—a fatal blind alley.
The imitation of foreigners is the dangerous blind alley into which our art has betaken itself.
It darted around the blind-alley shelf and was back a moment later.
By the end of the Hospital of Santo Spirito there was a little blind alley bounded by a low wall.
He was at the end of a blind alley, where there was no light from any direction except that by which he had entered it.
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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.
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