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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

quagmire.

A swampy, soggy area of ground.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkwæɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwɒɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwæɡ.maɪɹ/Canada, General-American/ˈkwæɡ.mɑɪə(ɹ)/Australia

  1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.

    That quagmire regularly ‘swallows’ caught-up hikers’ boots

  2. A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle.

    figuratively
    The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy.
    Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union.
Where this word comes from

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).

verb/ˈkwæɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwɒɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈkwæɡ.maɪɹ/Canada, General-American/ˈkwæɡ.mɑɪə(ɹ)/Australia

  1. To embroil (a person, etc.) in complexity or difficulty.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.