dead in the water

phrase

1

: not making any progress : stalled

negotiations were dead in the water

2

: not having any chance of success

… most books are dead in the water long before their publication date.

—Phillip Lopate

Examples of dead in the water in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are historical examples of teams that seemed dead in the water only to catch fire and make the playoffs. — Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 16 July 2026

Rhymes for dead in the water

• auteur
• blotter
• cotter
• daughter
• hotter
• mater
• otter
• plotter
• rotter
• slaughter
• spotter
• squatter