point of no return

noun phrase

1

: the point in the flight of an aircraft beyond which the remaining fuel will be insufficient for a return to the starting point with the result that the craft must proceed

2

: a critical point at which turning back or reversal is not possible

If you signed the contract, you already reached the point of no return.

Examples of point of no return in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And multiple mechanisms may work together to push the electric field past the point of no return. —Quanta Magazine, 6 May 2026

Meanwhile, the company that made their name keeps faltering towards the point of no return. —Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 6 May 2026

But that strategy has dramatically backfired, propelling the aging franchise closer to the brink of the point of no return. —Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar. 2026

Black holes are black because anything falling into them makes a one-way trip, after all; nothing, not even light, can escape once inside a black hole’s event horizon, its point of no return. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1941, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for point of no return

• adjourn
• concern
• decern
• discern
• downturn
• extern
• heartburn
• interne
• nocturne
• sunburn
• unworn
• upturn