quagmire

noun

plural quagmires
1
: soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
2
: a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament

Examples of quagmire in a Sentence

That was six months ago, when the Defense secretary laughingly dismissed the idea that Iraq was, or could turn into, a quagmire. But as Rumsfeld sat down last Friday morning to face Sen. John McCain, who spent six years in a Vietnamese prison, no one was laughing. Michael Hirsh et al., Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2003
State involvement will create a vast bioethical quagmire. Even if everyone magically agrees that improving a child's memory is as valid as avoiding dyslexia, there will still be things taxpayers aren't ready to pay for—genes of unproven benefit, say, or alterations whose downsides may exceed the upside. Robert Wright, Time, 11 Jan.1999
the party was once again facing its quadrennial quagmire: the candidate sufficiently liberal to win the nomination would be too liberal for the general election a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire
Recent Examples on the Web But the Palestinian militants are still fighting and could yet draw Israel into a long quagmire like past conflicts in Lebanon, former U.S. military officers and analysts say. Yasmine Salam, NBC News, 29 Feb. 2024 There is no immediate or even medium-term fix to this quagmire. Brandon Busteed, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 Ukraine’s rich, black earth is soft, and with the frequent rains, the roads and fields become a quagmire. Carlotta Gall, New York Times, 26 Feb. 2024 For three decades, websites large and small have depended on search to help build their readership; now they’re caught in a philosophical quagmire. Longreads, 16 Feb. 2024 These lessons learned from a recent two-day business retreat can help leaders avoid the quagmires of entrepreneurship and accelerate a 2024 start. Curtis L Jenkins, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 Lessons learned from this business retreat will help owners avoid the quagmires of entrepreneurship. Curtis L Jenkins, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024 Research on past counterinsurgency campaigns suggests that such an approach in Gaza would produce a quagmire that could stretch on for years for the IDF. Colin P. Clarke, Foreign Affairs, 5 Feb. 2024 Kelly-Moore Paints, founded in San Carlos in 1946, has abruptly decided to go out of business by halting all operations and closing every one of its stores after failing to secure a cash infusion to help the retailer escape a financial quagmire. George Avalos, The Mercury News, 12 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'quagmire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1566, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of quagmire was in 1566

Dictionary Entries Near quagmire

Cite this Entry

“Quagmire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quagmire. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

quagmire

noun
1
: soft spongy wet ground that shakes or gives way under the foot
2
: a difficult situation from which it is hard to escape

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