cul-de-sac

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Translations

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

French cul-de-sac, from cul (“‘bottom’”) + de (“‘of’”) + sac (“‘bag, sack’”)

[edit] Pronunciation

•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Noun

cul-de-sac (plural: cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac)

1. A blind alley or dead end street.
2. (US): A circular area at the end of a dead end street to allow cars to turn around, designed so children can play on street, with little or no through-traffic.
3. An impasse.
   • 2005, National Review, February 14: 

     Physics seems, in fact, to have got itself into a cul-de-sac, obsessing over theories so mathematically abstruse that nobody even knows how to test them.

4. (medicine) A sack-like cavity or tube open at one end only.

[edit] Translations