bog
1 Americannoun
-
wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.
-
an area or stretch of such ground.
verb (used with or without object)
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bogs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bogged,
past participle, past
-
bogging
present participle
verb phrase
noun
noun
-
wet spongy ground consisting of decomposing vegetation, which ultimately forms peat
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an area of such ground
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a place or thing that prevents or slows progress or improvement
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a slang word for lavatory
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slang the act or an instance of defecating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bogsimple
-
bogssimple
-
have boggedperfect
-
has boggedperfect
-
am boggingprogressive
-
are boggingprogressive
-
is boggingprogressive
-
have been boggingperfect progressive
-
has been boggingperfect progressive
Past
-
boggedsimple
-
had boggedperfect
-
was boggingprogressive
-
were boggingprogressive
-
had been boggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bog1
1495–1505; < Irish or Scots Gaelic bogach soft ground ( bog soft + -ach noun suffix); bog 1 ( def. 4 ) perhaps a different word
Origin of bog2
1780–90; probably shortening of bog-house; compare bog to defecate, boggard (16th century) privy, of obscure origin
Explanation
You'd be pretty soggy by morning if you accidentally set your tent up in a bog. A bog is a swampy kind of ground made up mostly of decomposing plants and mosses. Nothing can be built on a bog because the ground is so spongy and damp, and no crops can be grown there. The dried soil from a bog can, however, be dried and burned for fuel. A figurative bog is anything that you tend to get stuck in, like a bog of health problems. Things can also "bog you down", or slow you down literally or figuratively, like when your homework bogs you down so you can't enjoy the weekend.
Vocabulary lists containing bog
St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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"The Monkey's Paw," Vocabulary from the short story
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English Words Derived from Gaelic
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Proponents of the philosophy say it reduces management layers that bog down decision-making.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
NRW said the vehicles travelled over private land to the Moel Fferna peak, leaving "huge tyre marks and damage" in peat and blanket bog habitats, both of which are "rare and protected".
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
"However, equally as important as restoring the rare bog habitat, is ensuring reptile populations are protected."
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Citizen Zoo has already begun trialling a bog bush cricket breeding programme.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
I could feel the bog sucking me down with it.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
Then in 1857, the regime of Emperor Napoleon III ordered the planting of maritime pines to drain the bogs of southwestern France.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Tackling the High Fens fire was made much harder by the fens' terrain -- a patchwork of heath, peat bogs and raised wooden boardwalks.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
He moves from the peat bogs of 18th-century Ireland to the dot-com bust with equal authority.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
On the silver screen, it dazzles like few contemporary science fiction films do, opting for color over the pallid gray verisimilitude that often bogs down its peers.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2026
The larvae eventually drop to the ground and form cocoons in the peat of tamarack bogs or the duff under spruce or pines.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
With only the swirling sounds of an overhead air conditioning vent to cloud her thoughts, she explained that, at the beginning, “Estrus” was bogged down by an unprecedented wave of writer’s block.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
The projects became further bogged down after major U.S. oil companies declined to participate when better opportunities beckoned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The vehicle that Pierre Michel Formosa, 68, was using with his travel companion, who was also from France, got bogged down in mud on August 17.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Doctors are frustrated because they are bogged down with patients.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Here! Then just head east. No need to get bogged down in Bristol. M4 to junction 18, then the A46 to Bath. Bob's your uncle.”
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
EU membership also risks bogging down Icelandic businesses in bureaucracy, she and other business leaders said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Late-arriving tax forms from partnerships and brokerage firms are also bogging down returns, O’Saben noted.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
But Kail’s fleet maneuvers keep the production from bogging down without lessening the emotional combustion that is the source of the playwright’s lasting genius.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
"For that potential purchase to best compliment Netflix, the planned split of WBD would make its studio more attractive without bogging it down with TV networks that aren't as agile as Netflix," Benes told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2025
Along a road running perpendicular to a river, the traffic thickened, bogging the ambulance down.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
