dead end
noun
Simple meaning
A position that offers no hope of change or progress.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dehdehndSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɛˈdɛnd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
figurative
A position that offers no hope of change or progress.
A passage with access only at one end
idiomatic
A street or path or tunnel that goes nowhere or is blocked on one end.
A split end in the hair.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A position that offers no hope of change or progress.
Used this way, dead end is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It carries warmth, so it reads as personal rather than detached.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Hopeful and forward-looking
- Usage feel
- Warm and expressive
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.