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cul-de-sac

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The definition of a cul de sac is a dead end street.

(noun)

An example of a cul de sac is a street that ends in a circle instead of going into another street.

See cul-de-sac in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. cul-de-sacs or culs-de-sac

a passage or position with only one outlet; blind alley; specif., a dead-end street with a turnaround at the closed end
a situation from which there is no escape
Anat. a blind pouch, as the cecum

Origin: Fr, lit., bottom of a sack

See cul-de-sac in American Heritage Dictionary 4

cul-de-sac

noun pl. culs-de-sac culs-de-sac (kŭlzˈ-, ko͝olzˌ-) or cul-de-sacs (kŭlˈ-)

a. A dead-end street.
b. An impasse: “This was the cul-de-sac the year kept driving me toward: men and women would always be at odds” (Philip Weiss).
Anatomy A saclike cavity or tube open only at one end.

Origin: French : cul, bottom (from Old French, from Latin cūlus; see culet ) + de, of (from Old French, from Latin dē; see de- ) + sac, sack (from Old French, from Latin saccus; see sack ¹).