stalematenoun/ˈsteɪlmeɪt/

• 1

  board-gameschessgamesThe state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves, resulting in a draw.

  • The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his/her king is not in check. The game is said to end in ‘stalemate’. This immediately ends the game, provided that the move producing the stalemate position was in accordance with Article 3 and Articles 4.2 – 4.7.
• 2

  Any situation that has no obvious possible movement, but involves no personal loss.

  • "Short of shooting us all in cold blood how's that going to help you, Mr. Carrados?" asked Larch, coming down to the commonplace of the situation. "It looks like stalemate to me and the sensible thing would be to make it a draw and all call off in good order. […]"
  • 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.

stalemateverb/ˈsteɪlmeɪt/

• 1

  board-gameschessgamesTo bring about a state in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal moves.

• 2

  To bring about a stalemate, in which no advance in an argument is achieved.

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