quagmire

[kwag-mahy^uhr, kwog-]

noun

1. an area of miry or boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread; a bog.

2. a situation from which extrication is very difficult.

   a quagmire of financial indebtedness.

   Synonyms: jam, scrape, quandary, dilemma, predicament

3. anything soft or flabby.

quagmire

/ ˈkwæɡˌmaɪə, ˈkwɒɡ- /

noun

1. a soft wet area of land that gives way under the feet; bog

2. an awkward, complex, or embarrassing situation

Other Word Forms

• quagmiry adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of quagmire¹

First recorded in 1570–80; quag + mire

Word History and Origins

Origin of quagmire¹

C16: from _quag + _mire

Example Sentences

USC has found itself in a financial quagmire at an unsettled moment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq came to seem closer to a quagmire than he had predicted.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“I can’t get them to initiate the money. It’s just a quagmire.”

Read more on Salon

The quagmire of falsified and lost records for Syria's missing children means surviving mothers and fathers are left to hunt from one institution to the next for any information at all.

Read more on BBC

She is simply not interested in the “you always,” “I never” emotional quagmires a gridlocked freeway or rerouting decision can churn up.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dilemma 
• entanglement 
• imbroglio 
• impasse 
• morass 
• predicament 
• quandary