Definition

1. Noun:
   • A mass of loose, wet sand that yields easily to pressure and sucks in anything resting on or falling into it: A natural hazard where saturated sand loses its strength and behaves like a fluid.
   • A situation or course of action that is dangerously unstable or entangling: A metaphorical use describing something that is difficult to escape from and can lead to ruin.

Examples of Usage

• Literal meaning:
  • The explorers were warned to avoid the area of quicksand near the riverbank.
  • The heavy truck began to sink slowly into the quicksand.
• Figurative meaning:
  • Their financial investment turned out to be quicksand, swallowing all their savings.
  • Getting involved in that legal dispute was like stepping into quicksand.

Advanced Usage

• "To be caught in quicksand": To be trapped in a situation that is difficult to escape from.
  • The company was caught in the quicksand of bureaucracy and couldn't innovate.
• "Quicksand of debt": A common collocation describing a worsening cycle of owing money.
  • After losing his job, he found himself in a quicksand of debt.

Variants and Related Words

• Quicksandy (adj, rare): Resembling or characteristic of quicksand.
  • The ground had a quicksandy consistency after the heavy rains.

Synonyms

• Mire: A stretch of swampy or boggy ground; a difficult situation.
• Morass: An area of muddy or boggy ground; a complicated or confused situation.
• Bog: Wet, spongy ground; to become stuck or hindered.

Related Phrases

• "Like quicksand": Used as a simile to describe something that entraps or engulfs.
  • His lies were like quicksand; the more he told, the deeper he sank.

Idioms

• "To be on quicksand": To be in a very insecure or unstable position.
  • Without a solid contract, our business agreement is on quicksand.

Noun

1. a pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down
2. a treacherous situation that tends to entrap and destroy