stalemate

stale +‎ mate

stalemate (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, ISSN 0362-4331:

     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.

• checkmate
• mate
• stale

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.
   • 29 February 2012, Aidan Foster-Carter, BBC News North Korea: The denuclearisation dance resumes

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

• check

• metalates