From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstalematestale‧mate /ˈsteɪlmeɪt/ noun [countable, uncountable] 1 PROGRESSa situation in which it seems impossible to settle an argument or disagreement, and neither side can get an advantage SYN deadlock an attempt to break the stalemate The discussions with the miners’ union ended in stalemate.► see thesaurus at progress2 DGOa position in chess in which neither player can win —stalemate verb [transitive]
Examples from the Corpus
stalemate• Negotiations with the 200 army rebels are at a stalemate.• an attempt to break a stalemate in the Middle East peace process• Congress remains in a stalemate over the federal budget.• At that point the strike appeared to have reached a stalemate.• The cultural patterns themselves are influenced by the structural instability and the cultural stalemate.• Also, a presidential system can so balance power between legislature and executive that there are damaging stalemates and confusion of accountability.• All this has produced a dangerous stalemate.• It looks like the long-running dispute could end in stalemate.• We had reached a position of stalemate - but a position which for the sake of the Government had to be settled.• The proposal was aimed at ending the stalemate between environmentalist and business groups.• But at least the stalemate had been been broken.• the stalemate in the three-month long pay dispute• Any conversation, even if it was only about food, was better than this stalemate.• But the talks themselves were a virtual stalemate.break the stalemate• Mitchell is consulting with the officials on a proposal by his three-member international panel to break the stalemate in peace negotiations.• In the summer of 1557, some of them tried to break the stalemate.• But hopes that Mr Freeman would break the stalemate were dashed.Origin stalemate (1700-1800) stale “stalemate” ((15-18 centuries)) (from Old French estal; → STALE) + mate ( → MATE23) 