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quagmire

 - 3 dictionary results

quag⋅mire

  [kwag-mahyuhr, kwog-]
–noun
1. an area of miry or boggy ground whose surface yields under the tread; a bog.
2. a situation from which extrication is very difficult: a quagmire of financial indebtedness.
3. anything soft or flabby.
Use quagmire in a Sentence
Origin:
1570–80; quag + mire

Related forms:
quagmiry, adjective

Synonyms:
2. predicament, dilemma, quandary, scrape, jam.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To quagmire
quag·mire   (kwāg'mīr', kwŏg'-)   
n.  

  1. Land with a soft muddy surface.

  2. A difficult or precarious situation; a predicament.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

quagmire 
1579, from obsolete quag "bog, marsh" + mire. Quag is a variant of M.E. quabbe "a marsh, bog," from O.E. *cwabba "shake, tremble" (like something soft and flabby). Extended sense of "difficult situation, inextricable position" is first recorded 1775.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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