run into a stone wall
To come up against an immovable or insurmountable difficulty or obstacle. Our project was going well, but we run into a stone wall when our funding was suddenly cut.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
run into a stone wall
Fig. to come to a barrier against further progress. We've run into a stone wall in our investigation. Algebra was hard for Tom, but he really ran into a stone wall with geometry.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
run into a stone wall
Also, run into a brick wall. Encounter an insurmountable barrier to progress, as in We tried to get faster approval from the town and ran into a stone wall, or For Allan, learning a foreign language amounted to running into a brick wall.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.