no exit
No way out
No exit describes a situation with no way out or escape.
A road with no exit is a dead end.
Figuratively, a no-exit situation offers no solution or resolution: The negotiations reached a no-exit impasse.
The phrase gained philosophical weight from Sartre's play depicting souls trapped together in hell—hence No exit as shorthand for inescapable circumstances.
- trappedUnable to escape
- SartreFrench existentialist philosopher
- Jean-Paul Sartre"Nausea" penned him
- hellUnderworld of suffering
- deadendRoad without outlet
closed · locked · locked door · stuck · tight spot · claustrophobia · existentialism · despair · cornered · blocked · brick wall · impasse · cul-de-sac · blind alley · suffocating · prison · labyrinth · panic
- impassesimpasse, deadlock, stalemate, standstill, gridlock
passability/egress
no exitexit
Way to leave
way out · emergency exit · fire exit · egress · escape route
entrapment/escape
no exitway out
Means of departure
escape · freedom · liberation · release · deliverance