Definition

Noun: 1. A soft, wet, boggy area of land that yields underfoot: A quagmire is a patch of soft, waterlogged ground, often covered in vegetation, that is difficult to walk on because a person or animal may sink into it. 2. A complex, difficult, or precarious situation from which it is hard to extricate oneself: Figuratively, a quagmire describes a messy, complicated, and often worsening predicament or entanglement.

Usage Examples

• Literal meaning:
  • After days of heavy rain, the path through the woods became a complete quagmire.
  • The tractor got stuck in the quagmire near the riverbank.
• Figurative meaning:
  • The country found itself in a political quagmire with no easy solution.
  • The project descended into a bureaucratic quagmire, delaying it for months.

Advanced Usage

• "To be/become mired in a quagmire": To be deeply stuck or entangled in a difficult situation.
  • The negotiations became mired in a legal quagmire.
• "A quagmire of [something]": Used to emphasize the nature of the difficult situation.
  • The investigation turned into a quagmire of contradictory evidence.

Variants and Related Words

• Quag (noun): An archaic or dialect term for a quagmire or marshy spot.
• Mire (noun/verb): Can be used similarly to quagmire, both literally (soft mud) and figuratively (a difficult situation; to cause to get stuck).

Synonyms

• Literal: Bog, marsh, swamp, morass, fen, slough, mire.
• Figurative: Predicament, entanglement, mess, imbroglio, morass, dilemma.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "A logistical/political/legal quagmire": A common collocation specifying the type of difficult situation.
  • The new regulations created a logistical quagmire for the company.
• "To sink into a quagmire": To gradually become trapped in a worsening situation.
  • Their ambitious plan slowly sank into a quagmire of debt.

Noun

1. a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot