morass
Americannoun
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a tract of low, soft, wet ground.
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a marsh or bog.
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marshy ground.
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any confusing or troublesome situation, especially one from which it is difficult to free oneself; entanglement.
noun
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a tract of swampy low-lying land
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a disordered or muddled situation or circumstance, esp one that impedes progress
Etymology
Origin of morass
1645–55; < Dutch moeras, alteration (by association with moer marsh; moor 1 ) of Middle Dutch maras < Old French mareis < Germanic. See marsh
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.
This has plunged Cuba into a further economic morass with fuel shortages and rolling blackouts.
From Barron's
They predicted that the “process of sorting out refunds will likely take months and be a legal and bureaucratic morass in its own right.”
From MarketWatch
The path out of the morass isn’t readily apparent.
From Barron's
Other risk-off indicators, tied in part to the swirling morass of geopolitical events, continue to flash red.
From Barron's
The risk of the high-speed approach is that the administration cuts corners and finds itself entangled in a protracted legal morass, legal and energy experts said.
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.
