Quagmire Definition

kwăgmīr, kwŏg-
quagmires
noun
quagmires
Wet, boggy ground, yielding under the foot.
Webster's New World
A difficult or inextricable position.
A quagmire of debts.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:

Other Word Forms of Quagmire

Noun

Singular:
quagmire
Plural:
quagmires

Origin of Quagmire

  • Recorded since 1579, from two virtual synonyms: obsolete quag (“bog, marsh") (a variant of Middle English quabbe (“a marsh, bog"), from Old English *cwabba (“shake, tremble like something soft and flabby"); cognate with Dutch kwab) + mire (from Middle English, from Old Norse mýrr, akin to Old English mōs (“marsh") and English moss). The sense "difficult situation, inextricable position" is recorded since 1775.

    From Wiktionary

  • Alternative: Apparently a var. of the earlier quakemire, from quake + mire.

    From Wiktionary

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