How to Use dead-end in a Sentence

dead-end

1 of 3 adjective
  • Our own home is located on a dead-end street with only six houses.
    — Liz Logan, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024
  • Millions find themselves in this predicament, left to settle for a dead-end job or worse.
    — Rick Wartzman, Fortune, 14 Dec. 2023
  • There doesn’t seem to be any good reason for it, because this is a little dead-end street that goes to the ocean.
    — Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 31 May 2023
  • Yet such an exchange might turn the Gaza war away from its catastrophic, dead-end course, at least for a time.
    — Steve Coll, The New Yorker, 30 Oct. 2023
  • The rest just dead-end in mid-air, with treacherous drop-offs that could cause serious injury — or worse — should anyone fall from them.
    — By wayne Parry, Quartz, 18 Mar. 2024
  • The two bodies were discovered this year in front of the last house on a dead-end road in Columbus, Georgia.
    — Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 20 June 2023
  • After waiting for the car to make it safely through the zone, the sergeant attempted to pull over the driver, who pulled onto a dead-end street.
    — Thallman, oregonlive, 16 June 2023
  • Feeling trapped in her dead-end existence, Hazel longs for wider horizons, different people and places — in short, a change.
    — Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, 5 June 2023
  • Her family loves their dead-end street and the easy commute into Boston, but the home was small, with low-slung 7-foot ceilings.
    — Kara Baskin, BostonGlobe.com, 7 June 2023
  • Instead of a fresh start, lawmakers return next week to their stale, dead-end arguments and legislative gridlock.
    — Shelby Grad, Los Angeles Times, 5 Jan. 2024
  • That sound continues on Grog, where Frog sing stories of dead-end detectives and fateful love that give your heart a soft punch.
    — Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Hannah is a 30-something single woman who's feeling adrift and bitter in both her personal life and in her dead-end job.
    — Stephanie McNeal, Glamour, 26 Apr. 2024
  • Though there’s no proof that this actually happened, the isolated, dead-end road definitely makes an eerie setting.
    — Elizabeth Rhodes, Travel + Leisure, 17 Aug. 2023
  • Newbern’s residents live mostly in single-story homes on dead-end streets off State Route 61.
    — Meridith Edwards, CNN, 6 Aug. 2023
  • Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges are best friends and high school seniors in a dead-end North Texas town.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 1 July 2026
  • Enter Luna, a sunshiney trans woman who desperately needs money after losing her dead-end office job.
    — Lydia Wang, Women's Health, 16 June 2023
  • The post by the Humane Society said that late Wednesday night, three 8-week-old pointer/hound mix puppies were thrown from a car to the side of a dead-end road.
    — Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 26 Feb. 2024
  • Each dead-end eruption of violence has put paid to the notion of a military solution; reconciliation is the only path forward.
    — Ziad Asali, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2024
  • In the film, Perry plays Mike O’Donnell, a down-on-his-luck middle-aged father with a dead-end job, two kids who hate him and a wife who has just filed for divorce.
    — Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 2 Nov. 2023
  • In the new show, Fionna lives with her cat, Cake, working dead-end jobs in a world without magic until the pair is flung through the multiverse, pursued by a powerful foe.
    — Olivia McCormack, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2023
  • That’s in part because, for generations, many Egyptians discouraged their children from pursuing work as chefs, viewing kitchen jobs as a step toward a dead-end career.
    — Siobhán O'Grady, Washington Post, 27 June 2023
  • The Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc was a name thrown around as a possible contender, but that was a dead-end, too.
    — Journal Sentinel, 29 Mar. 2023
  • The sleuths argue their work is necessary to correct the scientific record and prevent generations of researchers from pursuing dead-end topics because of flawed papers.
    — Evan Bush, NBC News, 14 Feb. 2024
  • In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, Howarth explained his exit, noting that his contract was up and the character had reached a creative dead-end.
    — EW.com, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Secluded atop a high knoll on a dead-end street in the Studio City hills, the very private home is additionally cloaked from public view behind high gates, towering walls and overgrown hedges.
    — James McClain, Robb Report, 25 Jan. 2024
  • In 2016, investment bank and wealth manager Stifel purchased Eaton, and his new employer dispatched the youngster on what appeared a dead-end assignment.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 7 July 2023
  • Cincinnati’s King Records is a place where rock history, civil rights history and Cincinnati history intersect at the corner of a dead-end street just north of Downtown.
    — The Enquirer, 25 Feb. 2024
  • And as with every modern New York mayor before him, the job itself is a political dead-end—there simply isn’t a political future for Adams beyond reelection to another term as mayor.
    — Max Rivlin-Nadler, The New Republic, 27 Oct. 2023
  • In a dead-end section of the mine illuminated only by the cold flicker of a fizzing neon sign, old man Berdo (Levan Berikashvili) ekes out a meager existence, muttering to the ghost of his son who died ten years prior in a mine collapse.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 8 July 2023
  • His days consist of nude swims in his pool, dead-end flirtations with a local club owner (Louise Bourgoin), spats with his disapproving housekeeper (Clotilde Mollet) and halfhearted attempts to quit smoking.
    — Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2024

dead-end

2 of 3 verb
  • The race to the bottom is a dead-end street.
    — Peter Su, Rolling Stone, 9 Dec. 2025
  • The pursuit ended when they were boxed in at a dead-end, the police said.
    — Bay Area News Group, Mercury News, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Sammy’s stuck in a dead-end job, where his boss takes a much dimmer view of his options.
    — Ed Masley, AZCentral.com, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Maps show the home is in a sparsely populated area on a dead-end road.
    — Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 1 June 2026
  • Neighbors described the area of the shooting as a quiet, dead-end street.
    — Matt Schooley, CBS News, 13 Dec. 2025
  • What if icons like the Countach Evoluzione had sparked a lineage rather than a dead-end?
    — Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 11 Aug. 2025
  • In physics, that almost always signifies a dead-end.
    — Big Think, 23 Apr. 2026
  • The city’s new rules also limit dead-end streets in new developments.
    — David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec. 2025
  • But there's a difference between dead-end conflict and good conflict.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 3 June 2026
  • In response to the prank, Guerry allegedly chased the teens down a dead-end street near a dump site.
    — Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 27 Mar. 2026
  • What looks like dead-end research today could become a building block for tomorrow’s cure.
    — Roomy Khan, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Stevie has left college to work a dead-end job, and can't wait to leave Los Angeles.
    — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 3 June 2026
  • Time confetti is basically a dead-end street to burnout, Brown adds.
    — Parents, 13 June 2026
  • The trail hits a dead-end here, sending you back toward the entrance, but the zenlike peace of the valley will stick with you for a while.
    — John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 4 May 2026
  • However, a dead-end job doesn't necessarily mean a bad job.
    — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026
  • On a chilly night near downtown Los Angeles, a car maneuvers down a dark dead-end street.
    — Greg Braxtonsenior Writer, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Inside, the tunnel design often includes blast-trap dead-end shafts aligned with the entrance axis.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 4 Mar. 2026
  • Why would sharp-as-nails med school grads opt toward a presumably dead-end occupational route?
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
  • The young parasites can also be taken up by dead-end hosts like birds, including chickens, and snakes—these are called paratenic hosts.
    — Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 13 Aug. 2025
  • That is one of many problems that Zara and Luke go on to dodge, including dead-ends, dead bodies and a drunken mom.
    — Randy Myers, Mercury News, 23 Jan. 2026
  • But the incremental benefits could be misleadingly tying us to a road that leads to a dead-end.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025
  • In the face of this dire situation, battery swapping is a distraction and dead-end that the planet can’t afford.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 13 May 2021
  • Doubles, glitches, erotic dread, narrative dead-ends.
    — Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025
  • With three exposures on a block that dead-ends above the East River, the house is also filled with beautiful light.
    — Kim Velsey, Curbed, 22 Sep. 2025
  • The driver reportedly sped away into a dead-end neighborhood.
    — Christa Swanson, CBS News, 6 Apr. 2026
  • This, Wyatt hopes, will nudge designers away from dead-end or unappealing results.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 29 Oct. 2022
  • For example, Fortune visited one mile-long dead-end road that until recently was lined with just eight homes.
    — Sharon Goldman, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2026
  • The novel follows Julia Flang, a former gamer who lives with her uncle while working a series of dead-end jobs.
    — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 22 Oct. 2025
  • But on an early summer morning in 2023, Ashley’s body was found on a dead-end street just outside the city.
    — Jonathan Moens — Bellingcat, STAT, 18 June 2026
  • Although the tide is turning (subscription required), there’s still a misconception that the trades are low-paying, dead-end jobs.
    — Andrew Schaap, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

dead end

3 of 3 noun
  • We came to a dead end and had to turn around.
  • My career has hit a dead end.
  • Drill rap is a dead end that artists no longer need to go down.
    — Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 26 Oct. 2024
  • But those attempts hit a dead end.
    — Ashley Miznazi, Miami Herald, 14 Feb. 2026
  • This is a crossroads, not a dead end.
    — Sho Dewan, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • With no lungs, the highway hits a dead end.
    — Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 29 Jan. 2026
  • But just as quickly, the team hit a dead end.
    — Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 19 Aug. 2025
  • That doesn’t mean AI is a dead end.
    — Aytekin Tank, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2025
  • So a lot of my work has these dead ends in my writing.
    — Caterina De Biasio, Vogue, 23 Feb. 2026
  • The case has had a few breakthroughs, and some dead ends.
    — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 14 May 2026
  • Roads will always show up around you that lead to dead ends.
    — Daren Smith, IndieWire, 24 June 2026
  • Laboy drove onto a grassy area, but reached a dead end.
    — Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 28 May 2026
  • What makes sense for one might be a dead end for the other.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 24 May 2023
  • The case has had a few breakthroughs, and some dead ends.
    — Sarah Lapidus, USA Today, 8 May 2026
  • There were about two dozen of us who had landed in the same dead end.
    — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 July 2021
  • Sensing a dead end, Willy walked away.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Each time someone has tried to crack the code, it's led to a dead end.
    — Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY, 21 July 2022
  • Taylor said the other ideas are dead ends, as well.
    — Lautaro Grinspan, AJC.com, 18 Mar. 2026
  • The rest were preambles or dead ends.
    — Dan Turello, New Yorker, 10 Jan. 2026
  • In retrospect, that was a dead end.
    — Maria Pasquini, PEOPLE, 1 June 2026
  • Don’t let your temper cause this bright new path to turn into a dead end.
    — Essence, 17 Jan. 2023
  • Her brother hit a dead end street, bailed from the car and started to run.
    — Suzette Hackney, USA TODAY, 8 Oct. 2024
  • Yeomans’s team pursued them one by one, but each proved to be a dead end.
    — Eren Orbey, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
  • When the couple pulled up to their house, at the dead end of the street, no one was around.
    — Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 7 June 2021
  • Still, there are signs that some residents know that drugs are a dead end for their town.
    — Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Both thought the Arab-Israeli peace process was at a dead end.
    — Steven Simon, The New York Review of Books, 16 Jan. 2020
  • The fourth, tucked away in a dusty dead end, is only as big as four ping-pong tables.
    — Wired, 29 July 2022
  • Some influencers began to call the war a dead end.
    — Simon Shuster, The Atlantic, 6 June 2026
  • For Joseph, a couple of these jobs look like dead ends anyway.
    — Parker Gabriel, Denver Post, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Your hair won't be weighed down by dead ends and the results will leave you with flowing locks.
    — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 14 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dead-end.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: