morass

American  

[muh-ras] / məˈræs /

noun

1. a tract of low, soft, wet ground.

2. a marsh or bog.

3. marshy ground.

4. any confusing or troublesome situation, especially one from which it is difficult to free oneself; entanglement.

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morass British  

/ məˈræs /

noun

1. a tract of swampy low-lying land

2. a disordered or muddled situation or circumstance, esp one that impedes progress

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Etymology

Origin of morass

1645–55; < Dutch moeras, alteration (by association with moer marsh; cf. moor ¹) of Middle Dutch maras < Old French mareis < Germanic. See marsh

Explanation

A morass is a mushy, muddy patch of ground that you might find in a bog. In other words, it's something you probably don't want to get stuck in. The noun morass comes from the Dutch word moeras, meaning "marsh" or "fen." More metaphorically, just like its synonyms mire and quagmire, morass refers to anything that bogs you down, overwhelms you, and hinders your progress — like red tape, for example. You might refer to a "political morass" when the government cannot seem to pass legislation. Whether a morass is physical or metaphorical, it's a sticky mess you'll most likely want to avoid.

Example Sentences

I watched the pitch become a sodden pulp, a Morass, a sponge, a lake, a running stream, What time a sad repentant Mea culpa Was all my musing's theme.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, August 11, 1920 by Seaman, Owen, Sir

It was cut in half by the Great Morass, stretches of which extended even to Furnes.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various

Morass, mo-ras′, n. a tract of soft, wet ground: a marsh.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Into your Soul may truculent Daemons pass All hugger-mugger in that dun Morass, But while the Rouge is mantling to your Cheek, Nothing will chide you in your Looking-Glass.

From The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Jr. by Irwin, Wallace

Upon the Junction of the French and Bavarian Armies they took Post behind a great Morass which they thought impracticable.

From The Spectator, Volume 1 Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays by Addison, Joseph

Related Words

• chaos
• quagmire
• tangle