quagmire

noun

ˈkwag-ˌmī(-ə)r How to pronounce quagmire (audio)
Definition of quagmirenext
1
as in predicament
a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape 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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in tangle
something that catches and holds a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of quagmire Take Cincinnati lawyer Phil Pitzer, who took advantage of a long and frankly very sad legal quagmire to obtain the sequel rights toEasy Rider in the early 2010s. — Katie Rife, IndieWire, 11 Aug. 2026 Trump enters an uncertain moment in an Iran war threatening to become a quagmire. — Daniela Suarez, NBC news, 21 July 2026 SpaceX is, however, facing competition from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which is building a lander hat hews much closer to the simpler, Apollo-era lunar landers than the gargantuan, engineering quagmire that is Starship. — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 12 June 2026 Some Israelis strongly supported the pullout, saying Israel needed to extract itself from a quagmire. — Greg Myre, NPR, 10 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for quagmire
Recent Examples of Synonyms for quagmire
  1. predicament
  2. tangle
  3. dilemma
  4. trap
  5. pickle
  6. morass
  7. swamp
  8. quicksand
Noun
  • Perhaps cognisant of the last time one of his fighters — fellow British heavyweight Fabio Wardley — was in a similar predicament during his bout against Dubois in May.
    — Sarah Shephard, New York Times, 30 Aug. 2026
  • While few family businesses are like the Lakers, the broad strokes of the Buss family's predicament are familiar, according to lawyers who spoke to CNBC.
    — Hayley Cuccinello, CNBC, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of predicament
Noun
  • The Bell Jar Tracing the tangle of a new job in New York City and the simultaneous onrush of clinical depression, The Bell Jar brings the interior world of central character Esther Greenwood into stunning relief.
    — Caroline Rogers, Southern Living, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Penske has designed tracks through city blocks, but never through both federal and municipal grounds with a tangle of buildings that include the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the National Archives.
    — Adam Kilgore, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of tangle
Noun
  • Getty Images The plight of the A’s in Oakland and the Rays in Tampa Bay has been a Major League Baseball dilemma for decades, spanning the careers of the last two commissioners, Rob Manfred and Bud Selig.
    — Barry M. Bloom, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026
  • Gaines and White talked at length at halftime of Friday’s game about their convictions on the trans in women’s sports dilemma.
    — Patricia Babcock McGraw OutKick, FOXNews.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of dilemma
Noun
  • The team is analyzing microplastics painstakingly collected from plants, rocks, water samples and sticky traps erected along the shoreline.
    — Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune, 23 Aug. 2026
  • This kit makes both jobs simple with tools for cleaning up to 15-foot vents with flexible rods, specialty brushes that fit inside lint traps, and tweezers to reach into all the nooks and crannies.
    — Caley Sturgill, Southern Living, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of trap
Noun
  • Freebairn said an old pickle jar can hold a starter, and an ordinary bowl can substitute for a proofing basket.
    — Peter Burke, FOXNews.com, 24 Aug. 2026
  • The kitchen’s electrical oven roasts them during the daytime; they’re then chilled and served cold, with hot sauce, a ramekin of mayonnaise, and a pile of pickle spears.
    — Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of pickle
Noun
  • The solution for all of this is the same that one that helped the NBA out of its morass two decades ago.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 12 Aug. 2026
  • There is also crypto tax software that can help investors sort through the tax morass, Walter said.
    — Greg Iacurci, CNBC, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of morass
Noun
  • Spending more time crafting weak-salsa anti-Latino jokes than improving the lives of Latinos — that’s the racist swamp the president and his team happily fester in.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2026
  • They can also be found in a variety of habitats, including forests, grasslands, scrub brush, swamps and deserts.
    — Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of swamp
Noun
  • These companies have some of the best brands and highest quality products and yet the share prices are in quicksand.
    — Josh Brown,Sean Russo, CNBC, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The Moon may not be coated by miles-deep quicksand, but it is covered with countless microscopic knives.
    — Elijah Tan, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 July 2026
Definition of quicksand

Browse Nearby Words

quaffs
quagmire
quagmires
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Cite this Entry

“Quagmire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/quagmire. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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