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Webster 1913 Edition

Quagmire

Quag′mireˊ

,
Noun.
[
Quake
+
mire
.]
Soft, wet, miry land, which shakes or yields under the feet.
“A spot surrounded by quagmires, which rendered it difficult of access.”
Palfrey.
Syn. – Morass; marsh; bog; swamp; fen; slough.

Webster 1828 Edition

Quagmire

QUAG'MIRE

,
Noun.
[that is, quake-mire.] Soft wet land, which has a surface firm enough to bear a person, but which shakes or yields under the feet.

Definition 2024

quagmire

quagmire

English

A quagmire or swamp in Louisiana, United States

Noun

quagmire ‎(plural quagmires)

  1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.
    That quagmire regularly ‘swallows’ caught-up hikers' boots‎
  2. (figuratively) A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle; a predicament.
    The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy.‎
    Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union‎

Synonyms

Translations

Verb

quagmire ‎(third-person singular simple present quagmires, present participle quagmiring, simple past and past participle quagmired)

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

References

  1. ↑ “quagmire” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
  2. ↑ quagmire in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.

Etymology

Recorded since 1579, from two virtual synonyms: obsolete English quag ‎(“bog, marsh”) (a variant of Middle English quabbe ‎(“bog, marsh”), 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 “perilous, mixed up and troubled situation” has been recorded since 1775.[1]

Alternatively, the word may apparently be a variation of the earlier quakemire, from quake + mire.[2]

Pronunciation

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