dead end

noun
1.
something, as a street or water pipe, that has no exit.
2.
a position that offers no hope of progress; blind alley; cul-de-sac: His theory led him to a dead end.

Origin:
1885–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged

dead-end

[ded-end]
adjective
1.
terminating in a dead end: a dead-end street.
2.
Also, dead-end·ed. having no possibility for or hope of progress, advancement, etc.: a low-level, dead-end job.
3.
leading a life in the slums: growing up as a tough dead-end kid.
verb (used without object)
4.
to come to a dead end: The road dead-ends at the lake.

Origin:
1885–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To dead end
00:10
Dead end is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Collins
World English Dictionary
dead end
 
n
1.  another name for cul-de-sac
2.  a situation in which further progress is impossible
3.  dead-end (as modifier): a dead-end street; a dead-end job
 
vb
4.  chiefly (US), (Canadian) (intr) to come to a dead end

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

dead end
"closed end of a passage," 1886, from dead + end. Figurative use is attested from 1922. As an adj., from 1928; as a verb, from 1921.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

dead end

  1. A passage that has no exit, as in This street's a dead end, so turn back. [Late 1800s]

  2. An impasse or blind alley, allowing no progress to be made. For example, This job is a dead end; I'll never be able to advance. [c. 1920]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Jellyfish are often viewed as an energetic dead end.
Thinking she was handing me the key to my lost past, she instead shunted me to
  a meaningless dead end.
There were many dead end roads and uncompleted streets, which picked up several
  blocks from where they ended.
Some geneticists believe that desperation is leading him to a dead end.
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