English Explanatory Dictionary

quagmire

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.
  2. A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle.
verb
  1. To embroil (a person, etc.) in complexity or difficulty.

Pronunciation

/ˈkwæɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/ /ˈkwɒɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/ /ˈkwæɡ.maɪɹ/ /ˈkwæɡ.mɑɪə(ɹ)/ /ˈkwɔɡ.mɑɪə(ɹ)/ en-au-quagmire.ogg

Word forms

quagmire quagmires quagmiring quagmired

Etymology

Recorded since 1579, from quag + mire. The sense “perilous, mixed up and troubled situation” has been recorded since 1775. Alternatively, the word may apparently be a variation of the earlier quakemire, from quake + mire. Compare typologically Bulgarian тресавище (tresavište), Polish trzęsawisko, Russian тряси́на (trjasína) (akin to трясти́ (trjastí)); зыбь (zybʹ), зыбу́н (zybún) (<… Proto-Slavic *zybь).

Synonyms

marsh marshland mire quag predicament ass in a sling bind bucket of syrup calvary cauldron cross cross to bear difficulty dilemma dire straits doghouse fix hole jam kettle kettle of fish ordeal pickle pinch plight quandary quagmire situation spot spot of bother sticky situation sticky wicket tight spot trouble

Derived words

quagmirical quagmirish quagmiry
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on Q Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary