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Synonyms

bog down

British  

verb

  1. to impede or be impeded physically or mentally

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bog down Idioms  

  1. Become stuck, be unable to progress, as in Their research bogged down because they lacked the laboratory expertise. This expression transfers sinking into the mud of a swamp to being hampered or halted. [First half of 1900s]

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.

“A lot of things that bog down mining is access to roads and water, but that’s already established here.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025

Companies would theoretically also be able to avoid opposition from communities that don’t want data centers in their backyards and sidestep regulations that bog down construction on Earth.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 20, 2025

For now, many expect that elevated uncertainty will bog down economic activity, the Fed said.

From Barron's • Oct. 15, 2025

Chinitz added that the reinstitution of fault-only grounds would "bog down" the already overwhelmed family court system as estranged couples air out their deeply personal grievances and spar over proving one party's wrongdoing.

From Salon • Nov. 4, 2024

The problem with the passives that bog down bureaucratic and academic prose is that they are not selected with these purposes in mind.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

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.