Words / C2

KWAGM-eye-uh/ˈkwæɡmaɪə/

A quagmire is a soft wet area of land, and more often a complicated, messy situation you sink into: a legal quagmire, a political quagmire. Mess is everyday; swamp is a close metaphor; morass is a literary cousin. In speech, a messy trap is enough. The metaphor implies struggle and suction — the more you move, the deeper you go. Do not call a simple delay a quagmire.

Meaning

A soft wet area of land; more often, a complicated, messy situation.

Examples

• “The project became a legal quagmire.”
• “The project became a legal quagmire of overlapping contracts.”
• “Without a map, the real bog was a quagmire; the metaphor, for once, was also mud.”

Good to know

A bog; more often a messy, sucking predicament. Everyday: a mess you cannot step out of. Close: morass / swamp. Metaphor of sinking. Not a minor snag.

Near in meaning

morass

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