stalemate

English

Etymology

From stale +‎ mate.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈsteɪlmeɪt/

Noun

stalemate (countable and uncountable, plural stalemates)

1. (chess) The state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves, resulting in a draw.
2. (by extension) Any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but involves no personal loss.
   • 2020 September 8, Jeffrey Gettleman, “Shots Fired Along India-China Border for First Time in Years”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Indian military analysts said the situation was heading into a dangerous stalemate. Neither side wants to start a war. But neither side wants to back down either.

3. Any kind of match in which neither contestant laid claim to victory; a draw.

Translations

chess term

• Arabic: رَدْب m (radb)
• Armenian: պատ (hy) (pat)
• Belarusian: пат m (pat)
• Bulgarian: пат m (pat)
• Catalan: taules (ca) f pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 欠行 (qiànxíng), 困斃／困毙 (kùnbì), 無子可動／无子可动, 無子可動／无子可动 (wúzĭ kědòng)

• Czech: pat (cs) m
• Danish: pat c
• Dutch: pat (nl) m, patstelling (nl) m
• Esperanto: pato (eo)
• Estonian: patt (et)
• Finnish: patti (fi)
• French: pat (fr) m
• Georgian: ფათი (pati)
• German: Patt (de) n, Pattstellung f
• Greek: πατ (el) n (pat), αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo)
• Hindu: ज़िच f (zic)
• Hungarian: patt (hu), patthelyzet (hu)
• Icelandic: patt n
• Ido: pato (io)
• Irish: leamhsháinn f
• Italian: stallo (it) m
• Japanese: ステイルメイト (ja) (suteirumeito)
• Kazakh: пат (pat)
• Korean: 스테일메이트 (seuteilmeiteu)
• Latin: (Classical) matum stabilis, (Modern) stancamentum
• Latvian: pats m
• Lithuanian: patas m
• Macedonian: пат (mk) m (pat)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: patt (no) m

• Persian: پات (fa) (pât)
• Polish: pat (pl) m
• Portuguese: afogamento (pt) m
• Romanian: pat (ro) n
• Russian: пат (ru) m (pat)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: па̏т m

  Roman: pȁt (sh) m

• Slovak: pat m
• Slovene: pat (sl) m
• Spanish: ahogado (es) m
• Swedish: patt (sv) c
• Turkish: pat (tr)
• Ukrainian: пат m (pat)
• Vietnamese: hết nước đi
• Welsh: methmat m

blocked situation without personal loss

• Arabic: طَرِيق مَسْدُود m (ṭarīq masdūd), مَأْزِق (ar) m (maʔziq)
• Armenian: պատ (hy) (pat)
• Bulgarian: безизхо́дица (bg) f (bezizhódica)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 僵局 (zh) (jiāngjú), 對峙／对峙 (zh) (duìzhì)

• Estonian: patiseis
• Finnish: pattitilanne (fi)
• French: impasse (fr) f
• German: Stillstand (de) m, Stocken n, verfahrene Lage f, festgefahrene Lage f, Pattsituation f, Sackgasse (de) f
• Greek: αδιέξοδο (el) n (adiéxodo)
• Hungarian: patthelyzet (hu)
• Italian: punto morto m, vicolo cieco m, impasse (it) f, stallo (it) m
• Japanese: 行き詰り (ゆきづまり, yukizumari)
• Korean: 교착상태(交着狀態) (gyochaksangtae)
• Macedonian: ќор-сока́к m (ḱor-sokák)
• Maori: whakamārari
• Polish: pat (pl) m, sytuacja patowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: beco sem saída m, impasse (pt) m
• Russian: тупи́к (ru) m (tupík), пат (ru) m (pat), безвы́ходное положе́ние (ru) n (bezvýxodnoje položénije)
• Spanish: punto muerto (es) m, estancamiento (es) m
• Telugu: ప్రతిష్టంభన (te) (pratiṣṭambhana)
• Welsh: anghytundeb llwyr m

Verb

stalemate (third-person singular simple present stalemates, present participle stalemating, simple past and past participle stalemated)

1. (chess, transitive) To bring about a state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To bring about a stalemate, in which no advance in an argument is achieved.
   • 2012 February 29, Aidan Foster-Carter, “North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes”, in BBC News‎^[2]:

     The North Korean nuclear issue, stalemated for the past three years, is now back in play again—not before time.

   • 2024 March 18, Dan Sabbagh, “Volkov attack signals Russia’s return to cold war-era spying in Europe”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     But with the war also still largely stalemated, other theatres of conflict have become more important. In Russia’s case, that includes the secret domain.

See also

• check, checkmate

Anagrams

• metalates