cul-de-sac

(kŭl′dĭ-săk′, ko͝ol′-)

n. pl. cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac (kŭlz′-, ko͝olz′-)

a. A dead-end street, especially one ending in a circular turnaround.

b. A circular turnaround at the end of a dead-end street.

c. 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.

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

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cul-de-sac

(ˈkʌldəˌsæk; ˈkʊl-)

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

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

2. an inescapable position

3. (Anatomy) any tube-shaped bodily cavity or pouch closed at one end, such as the caecum

[C18: from French, literally: bottom of the bag]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cul-de-sac

(ˈkʌl dəˈsæk, -ˌsæk, ˈkʊl-)

n., pl. culs-de-sac.

1. a blind alley; dead-end street.

2. any situation in which further progress is impossible.

3. a saclike anatomical cavity or tube open at only one end, as the cecum.

[1730–40; < French: literally, bottom of the sack]

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.

cul-de-sac

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

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

cul-de-sac

noun

A course leading nowhere:

blind alley, dead end.

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

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

cul-de-sac

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

cul-de-sac

n → Sackgasse f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

cul-de-sac

[ˈkʌldəˈsæk] n → vicolo cieco

cul-de-sac

(ˈkaldəsӕk) noun

a street closed at one end.