impasse
French, noun/ɛ̃.pas/
impasse is spelled I-M-P-A-S-S-E (7 letters) and appears 7.8 times per million words in written French, the 8,090th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Impasse is a French feminine noun meaning “stalemate, impasse (situation in which no progress can be made; not used in the chess sense of stalemate)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Voie sans issue, cul-de-sac”.
What does impasse mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininestalemate, impasse (situation in which no progress can be made; not used in the chess sense of stalemate)
- 2
femininedead-end; cul-de-sac (street)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Voie sans issue, cul-de-sac. 2. Situation bloquée ou sans issue. 3. Manœuvre consistant à prendre une carte à un adversaire en posant une carte intermédiaire, souvent utilisée au jeu de bridge.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of impasse
- impasses plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce impasse?
- /ɛ̃.pas/
- /ɛ̃.pɑs/
- \ɛ̃.pɑs\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to impasse
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is impasse in French?
impasse appears 7.8 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).