morass
[muh-ras]
- a tract of low, soft, wet ground.
- a marsh or bog.
- marshy ground.
- any confusing or troublesome situation, especially one from which it is difficult to free oneself; entanglement.
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Origin of morass
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for morass
Contemporary Examples
These groups tend to push for a “one-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian morass.
Why Zionists Should Be Surprised—Even Heartened—By the United Church of Canada's BoycottMira Sucharov
December 10, 2013
She took up the miserable chore of attending dodgy networking events, but out of that morass came the character of Tallah.
The facts on the ground are anything but auspicious for America injecting itself into an intra-Arab morass.
The facts on the ground are anything but auspicious for America injecting itself into an intra-Arab morass, writes Lloyd Green.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is not about digging into the morass of deep dark secrets of the soul.
‘LA Shrinks’: A Television Writer Discovers His Shrink Is on a Bravo Reality ShowMike Chessler
April 8, 2013
Historical Examples
The street had been transformed into a morass of sticky mud by the storm.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
O, into what a morass of sin has he not fallen, and every moment he goes deeper!
The Strolling SaintRaphael Sabatini
Just at the mouth of it there was a morass filled with gad-flies and other poisonous insects.
Hair Breadth EscapesT. S. Arthur
On the way he had to pass a long and weary waste of heath and morass.
Red Cap TalesSamuel Rutherford Crockett
A guide had been found who would guide the army across the morass.
Red Cap TalesSamuel Rutherford Crockett
morass
- a tract of swampy low-lying land
- a disordered or muddled situation or circumstance, esp one that impedes progress
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Word Origin
C17: from Dutch moeras, ultimately from Old French marais marsh
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for morass
n.
"wet, swampy tract," 1650s, from Dutch moeras "marsh, fen," from Middle Dutch marasch, from Old French marais "marsh," from Frankish, possibly from West Germanic *marisk, from Proto-Germanic *mariskaz "like a lake," from *mari "sea" (see mere (n.)). The word was influenced in Dutch by moer "moor" (see moor (n.)). Figurative use is attested from 1867. Replaced earlier mareis (early 14c.; see marish).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper