mire Definition
mire (mīr)
noun
- an area of wet, soggy ground; bog
- deep mud; wet, soggy earth; slush
Etymology: ME < ON myrr, akin to mosi, moss
transitive verb mired, mir′·ing
- to cause to get stuck in or as in mire
- to soil or splatter with mud or dirt
intransitive verb
to sink or stick in mud
mire Synonyms
mire Usage Examples
Object
country: But the bubble burst in 1989, land and stock prices came crashing down, leaving the country mired in debt.
Converse of object
raise: Floating rescue saves mire A dramatic rescue operation has saved large sections of rare raised mire from destruction.
Adjective modifier
deep: I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
Modifies a noun
- vegetation: Two hectares of raised mire vegetation now survives across the administrative boundary at Acorn Field Moss in North Merseyside.
- habitat: Blanket bog is one of two main mire habitats found in Lancashire, the other being lowland raised bog.
- community: It formerly held the only blanket mire communities in the county.
Modifying Another Word
still: At the end of the second full day, negotiations were still mired in stalemate.
Noun used with modifier
- aizoides: Open, stony flushes of M11 Carex demissa Saxifraga aizoides mire are also well-represented.
- papillosum: Additionally, there are transitions to areas of M21 Narthecium ossifragum Sphagnum papillosum valley mire.
- erecta: Other mire types frequently occur within the heathland matrix, especially M25 Molinia caerulea-Potentilla erecta mire.
- saxatilis: An additional interest is the presence of an eastern outlier of the mainly western M12 Carex saxatilis mire.
- vulgaris: The vegetation is characterized by M10 Carex dioica Pinguicula vulgaris mire.
- blanket: It formerly held the only blanket mire communities in the county.
Preposition: in
- controversy: The proposal was greeted with derision at the time, and has been mired in controversy ever since.
- scandal: Colossal fraud Once again the institutions of the EU are mired in a colossal fraud scandal.
- bureaucracy: Like every other business transaction these days, the simple matter of selling a bracelet over the television is mired in bureaucracy.
- corruption: All over the world the establishment political parties are becoming mired in corruption.
- poverty: This film asks why the Caribbean region is mired in poverty.
- confusion: By and large it failed, and the decisions it did manage to take are mired in confusion.
Followed by an intransitive particle
down: Einstein's predominately visual mode of thinking allowed him to " wonder " quite spontaneously, rather than getting mired down with fixed ideas.
Browse dictionary entries near mire
- ‹ Miranda rule
- ‹ Miranda
- ‹ mirage
- ‹ mirador
- ‹ miraculous
- ‹ miracle play
- ‹ miracle drug
- ‹ miracle
- ‹ mirabile dictu
- ‹ mirabelle

