0 a situation in which progress is impossible, especially because the people involved cannot agree:
The dispute had reached an impasse, as neither side would compromise.
1 a point in a process at which further progress is blocked, esp. by disagreement:
We have reached an impasse in the negotiations -- neither side will budge.
2 a situation in which further development is impossible:
be at/remain at an impasse With negotiations at an impasse, analysts warn the uncertainty may harm supermarket stocks.
Their disagreements contributed to the impasse over budget policy in 1995 and the infamous partial federal government shutdown.
If at this juncture a seeming impasse is reached, at least two different conclusions can be drawn.
Accentuating authenticity and a concomitant cultural autochthony, their vividness breeds essentialization and theoretical impasse.
The narrow view of culture, limited to race or ethnic group, provided no solution to the impasse over life support between her physicians and family.
But, whereas the rationality axiom just leads to an impasse, the evolutionary approach suggests ways out.
When the president's party likes the outcome of the legislative impasse, presidents willingly go down to defeat.
Even as fine sentiments make bad literature, excellent evidence-based studies regularly hit practical impasses.
Recent work in industrial policy and political theory takes seriously the historical impasse we now face.
