dead-end vs defeat

dead-end

• To come to a dead-end. 

• Going nowhere; blocked. 

• A road with no exit. 

• A position that offers no hope of progress. 

defeat

• To overcome in battle or contest. 

• To nullify 

• To prevent (something) from being achieved. 

• To reduce, to nothing, the strength of. 

• The act or instance of being defeated, of being overcome or vanquished; a loss. 

• Frustration (by prevention of success), stymieing; (law) nullification. 

• The act or instance of defeating, of overcoming, vanquishing.