swamp

swamp

noun

Definition of SWAMP

1

spongy land saturated or partially covered with water <be careful in the swamp, because alligators sometimes lurk there>

Synonyms bog, fen, marsh, marshland, mire, moor, morass, muskeg, slough (also slew or slue), swampland, wash, wetland

Related Words swale; quagmire; guck (or gook), muck, mud, ooze, slime, slop, sludge, slush

2

a difficult, puzzling, or embarrassing situation from which there is no easy escape <with her credit cards maxed out, and the making of minimum payments a challenge, debt seemed to be an ever-deepening swamp>

Synonyms bind, box, catch-22, corner, dilemma, fix, hole, impasse, jackpot [chiefly West], jam, mire, pickle, quagmire, rabbit hole, rattrap, spot, sticky wicket, swamp

Related Words difficulty, node; hot water, soup; pinch, plight, quandary, scrape, trouble; deadlock, halt, logjam, stalemate, standstill; clutch, crisis, crossroad, emergency, exigency, juncture, strait