impasse

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French impasse.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæmpɑːs/, /æmˈpɑːs/, /ˈɪmpɑːs/, /ɪmˈpɑːs/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɪmpæs/, /ɪmˈpæs/

Noun

impasse (plural impasses)

1. A road with no exit; a cul-de-sac. [from 1851]
2. (figuratively) A deadlock or stalemate situation in which no progress can be made.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XIV:

     “It seems to me the thing's an impasse. French expression,” I explained, “meaning that we're stymied good and proper with no hope of finding a formula.”

   • 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest

     "Young man, this town is at a bit of an impasse. If you have any suggestion that might help, now would be the time to voice it."

   • 2022 June 12, Emily Cochrane; Annie Karni, “Senators Reach Bipartisan Deal on Gun Safety”, in The New York Times‎^[1], ISSN 0362-4331:

     The agreement, which falls short of the sprawling changes championed by Democrats, is a significant step toward ending a yearslong impasse over gun reform legislation.

Translations

road with no exit — see dead end

deadlock or stalemate situation

• Arabic: مأزق‎ (ar)
• Bulgarian: безизходица (bg) f (bezizhodica)
• Catalan: cul-de-sac (ca) m, atzucac (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: blindgyde (da) c
• Finnish: umpikuja (fi)
• German: Patt (de) n, Hängepartie (de) f, Sackgasse (de) f, Pattsituation f, gegenseitige Blockade f, festgefahrene Situation f, ausweglose Situtation f
• Greek: αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo)
• Hungarian: zsákutca (hu)
• Italian: vicolo cieco m, impasse (it) f, cul de sac (it) m
• Japanese: 行き詰まり (yukizumari)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can

• Maori: whakamāraritanga
• Polish: impas (pl) m, zastój (pl) m, matnia (pl) f, ślepa uliczka (pl)
• Portuguese: impasse m
• Russian: тупи́к (ru) m (tupík)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ћорсокак m

  Roman: ćorsokak (sh) m

• Spanish: punto muerto (es) m, impasse (es)
• Swedish: dödläge (sv), död punkt
• Thai: ทางตัน (taang-dtan)
• Vietnamese: ngõ cụt (vi)

Further reading

• impasse at OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• pessima, sempais

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French

Etymology

From im- +‎ passe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.pas/, /ɛ̃.pɑs/

• audio (France)

  (file)

Noun

impasse f (plural impasses)

1. stalemate, impasse (situation in which no progress can be made; not used in the chess sense of stalemate)
2. dead-end; cul-de-sac (street)

Derived terms

• faire l'impasse

Descendants

• → English: impasse
• → German: Impasse
• → Italian: impasse
• → Portuguese: impasse
• → Spanish: impasse

Further reading

• “impasse”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “impasse” in Dictionnaire Français en ligne Larousse.
• “impasse” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.

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Italian

Etymology

From French impasse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /emˈpas/
• Rhymes: -as

Noun

impasse f (invariable)

1. impasse, dead-end, deadlock, stalemate

   Synonym: stallo

Further reading

• impasse in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• Messapi, assempi, pessima

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French impasse.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩ.ˈpa.si/

Noun

impasse m (plural impasses)

1. impasse (a situation in which no progress can be made)

Further reading

• “impasse” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• impás

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French impasse.

Noun

impasse m (plural impasses)

1. impasse

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

• “impasse”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014