Wiktionary
dead-ender
n. One who has no prospects for the future; a loser; a dropout.
Usage examples of "dead-ender".
They told me I was a dead-ender, either get out of trucking or…" I shrugged.
Had Talbot known earlier that Victors research was thrust in the direction of actualizing advanced theoretical breakthroughs in the nature of the structure of fundamental particles, he would never have wasted his time with the pseudos and dead-enders who had spent years on his problem, who had promised everything and delivered nothing but dust.