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. (figurative) 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:

     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, festgefahrene Situation f, ausweglose Situation f
• Greek: αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo)
• Hungarian: zsákutca (hu), holtpont (hu), patthelyzet (hu)
• Italian: vicolo cieco m, impasse (it) f, cul de sac (it) m
• Japanese: 行き詰まり (ja) (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 (pt) m
• Russian: тупи́к (ru) m (tupík)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ћорсокак m

  Roman: ćorsokak m

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

Further reading

• “impasse”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• pessima, sempais

Dutch

Etymology

From French impasse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪmˈpɑsə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: im‧pas‧se
• Rhymes: -ɑsə

Noun

impasse f (plural impasses or impassen)

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

   De onderhandelingen verkeerden al maanden in een impasse.

   Negotiations had been at an impasse for months.

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
• → Dutch: 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.

Galician

Verb

impasse

1. (reintegrationist norm) first/third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of impar

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing 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

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French impasse.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈpa.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈpa.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ĩˈpa.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ĩˈpa.sɨ/

• Hyphenation: im‧pas‧se

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.

Spanish

Alternative forms

• impás

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French impasse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imˈpas/ [ĩmˈpas]
• Rhymes: -as

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