cul-de-sac

cul-de-sac  (kld-sk, kl-)

n. pl. culs-de-sac (klz-, klz-) or cul-de-sacs (kl-)

1.

a. A dead-end street.

b. An impasse: "This was the cul-de-sac the year kept driving me toward: men and women would always be at odds" (Philip Weiss).

2. Anatomy A saclike cavity or tube open only at one end.

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[French : cul, bottom (from Old French, from Latin clus; see culet) + de, of (from Old French, from Latin d; see de-) + sac, sack (from Old French, from Latin saccus; see sack¹).]

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cul-de-sac [ˈkʌldəˌsæk ˈkʊl-]

n pl culs-de-sac, cul-de-sacs

1. (Social Science / Human Geography) a road with one end blocked off; dead end

2. an inescapable position

3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Anatomy) any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum

[from French, literally: bottom of the bag]

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cul-de-sac - Literally French for "bottom of a sack," it also means "situation from which there is no escape"; it can be pluralized as cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac.

See also related terms for sack.

Thesaurus

cul-de-sac

noun dead end, blind alley The factory was set at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Translations

cul-de-sac [ˈkʌldəˈsæk] (culs-de-sac, cul-de-sacs (pl)) N (lit) → calle f sin salida, calle f cortada (fig) → callejón m sin salida

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cul-de-sac [ˈkʌldəsæk] n (= road) → cul-de-sac m, impasse f

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cul-de-sac

n → Sackgasse f

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cul-de-sac [ˈkʌldəˈsæk] n → vicolo cieco

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cul-de-sac

n cul-de-sac [ˈkaldəsӕk]

a street closed at one end. blinde steeg/straat, doodloopstraat, doodlooppunt طَريق مَسْدود задънена улица slepá ulice blind vej; lukket vej die Sackgasse αδιέξοδο callejón sin salida tupik بن بست umpikuja cul-de-sac רְחוֹב לְלֹא מוֹצָא बंदगली slijepa ulica zsákutca jalan buntu blindgata vicolo cieco 行きどまり 막다른 골목 aklagatvis aklā iela; strupceļš jalan mati doodlopende straat blindvei ślepa uliczka beco sem saída fundătură тупик slepá ulica slepa ulica ćorsokak återvändsgränd, -gata ทางตัน çıkmaz sokak 死胡同，死巷 глуха вулиця, сліпа вулиця بند گلی ngõ cụt 死胡同