Definition of IMPASSE

Examples of impasse in a Sentence

The players are poised to strike after Thursday's games because they believe, with good reason, that if no agreement is reached by the end of the post-season, the owners will declare an impasse … — Murray Chass, New York Times, 9 Aug. 1994 We seem to have been forced into an impasse. We need to understand why space-time singularities have the structures that they appear to have; but space-time singularities are regions where our understanding of physics has reached its limits. — Roger Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind, 1989 I think the civil rights movement in its early and middle years offered the best way out of America's racial impasse: in this society, race must not be a source of advantage or disadvantage for anyone. — Shelby Steele, Harper's, June 1988 An arbitrator was called in to break the impasse. She had reached an impasse in her career.

Recent Examples on the Web

With the special session (limited to 30 days) scheduled to end Friday, here’s where those items stand: • On education funding, lawmakers and the governor are at an impasse and likely headed to a legal battle. — James Brooks, Anchorage Daily News, "The Alaska Legislature has passed an operating budget — what’s next?," 11 June 2019 No doubt Orwell would tell us to dismiss those who want to rerun the referendum — if democracy is at an impasse, undermining a public mandate isn’t clever. — Sahil Handa, National Review, "Reclaiming Britishness from the Brexit Debacle," 10 June 2019 The Senate passed a $19.1 billion disaster aid package on Thursday, ending a monthslong impasse with an agreement that includes more assistance for Puerto Rico but no money for the southern border as sought by President Trump. — Andrew Duehren, WSJ, "Senate Passes $19.1 Billion Deal on Disaster Aid," 23 May 2019 And political impasse rules the lives of those in Gaza. — NBC News, "Why Palestinians risk their lives to protest near Gaza-Israel fence," 21 June 2018 The impasse might eventually dissipate, especially if a trickle of brain data coincides with at least a trickle of behavioral data. — Cathleen O'grady, Ars Technica, "The evolutionary mystery of gigantic human brains," 23 Aug. 2018 The apparent impasse raised an unwelcome prospect for both parties after waiting almost seven years for the three-week trial. — Nathan Fenno, latimes.com, "Jury in Todd McNair-NCAA trial informs judge that it is deadlocked," 15 May 2018 Large swaths of the government have been shut down for weeks while Trump and Democrats in Congress remain at an impasse over money for the border wall. — Darlene Superville, The Seattle Times, "Trump’s weekend: New Russia questions, shutdown irritants," 14 Jan. 2019 The shutdown started early Saturday after Mr. Trump and congressional lawmakers hit an impasse over whether to allocate money to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. — Katie Honan, WSJ, "Thousands Visit Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island Despite Shutdown," 26 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'impasse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.