cul-de-sac
/ˈkʌldəsæk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.89 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A blind alley or dead end street.
noun
A circular area at the end of a dead end street to allow cars to turn around, designed so children can play on the street, with little or no through-traffic.
noun
An impasse.
Example Sentences
- "Before we had gone fifty yards we perceived that all hopes of getting further up the stream in the whale-boat were at an end, for not two hundred yards above where we had stopped were a succession of shallows and mudbanks, with not six inches of water over them. It was a watery cul de sac."
- "His was the end house of a cul-de-sac, with the side wall of a huge brewery beyond."
- "And in suburbs known for new development, preservationists are often battling a general perception that there is nothing historic or worth saving among the cul-de-sacs."
- "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."
- "The internet is a remarkable tool to find others and coordinate, but as an end to itself can become a cul de sac of frustrated desires and circular arguments."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH-der.? Latin cūlus Old French cul Middle French cul French cul Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h₁ Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Old French de Middle French de French de Ancient Greek σᾰ́κκος (sắkkos)bor. Latin saccus Old French sac French sac French cul-de-sacbor. English cul-de-sac Borrowed from French cul-de-sac, from cul (“bottom”) + de (“of”) + sac (“bag, sack”).
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈkʌldəsæk/
- British English: /ˈkʌldəsak/