miry

American  

[mahyuhr-ee] / ˈmaɪər i /

adjective

mirier, miriest

1. of the nature of mire; swampy.

   miry ground.

2. abounding in mire; muddy.

3. covered or bespattered with mire.

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Other Word Forms

• miriness
  noun
• unmiry
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of miry

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at mire, -y ¹

Explanation

Anything soggy, soft, and a little muddy is miry. Your bright white sneakers won't look brand new anymore after you hike along the miry riverbank in them. The adjective miry, which is good for describing places that are boggy or mucky, comes from mire, "a stretch of swampy ground." Mire derives from the Old Norse word myrr, "bog or swamp," and shares a root (meaning "damp") with the word moss. Miry things are damp and squishy, like the ground around a marsh or the muddy surface of a dirt road after heavy rain.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

miry

According to the historian Edward Hasted, writing in the 1770s, Cooling was “an unfrequented place, the roads of which are deep and miry, and it is as unhealthy as it is unpleasant.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2018

Without access to the inter-stage area, which turns the miry walk between the two main stages into a comparatively short hop, the following would not be possible.

From Time ● Jul. 7, 2014

And the fascination of the open country, even with the weeping woodlands and soggy, miry underfoot, was coming more and more over her, she further declared.

From The Heath Hover Mystery by Mitford, Bertram

But there was nothing to do but plod on, through the wet, miry trail.

From Boy Scouts in Glacier Park The Adventures of Two Young Easterners in the Heart of the High Rockies by Eaton, Walter Prichard

Every journey had to be made on horses or behind them, roads were rough and miry, fords were plenty, bridges scarce.

From Ovington's Bank by Weyman, Stanley J.