1
: wet spongy earth (as of a bog or marsh)
The mire is relieved only by small stretches of open dry forest …—
Saturday Review
Saturday Review2
: heavy often deep mud or slush
The troops trudged onward through the mire.
3
: a troublesome or intractable situation
found themselves in a mire of debt
mired; miring
1
a
: to cause to stick fast in or as if in mire
The car was mired in the muck.
b
: to hamper or hold back as if by mire : entangle
The company has been mired in legal problems.
2
: to cover or soil with mire
his mired boots
: to stick or sink in mire
… a road in which horses and wagons mired regularly.—Edmund Arnold
Edmund ArnoldExamples of mire in a Sentence
Noun
The troops marched onward through the muck and the mire.
played on a football field that was thick with mire
Verb
the sight of the standard, which had emerged from the battle mangled and mired, still stirred the soldiers' hearts
the case has been mired in probate court for years
Recent Examples on the Web
Neil McRobert, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2025
The Trump proclamation to increase H-1B visa fees to $100,000 mires their U.S. employment in uncertainty.
—Priyanka Salve,ganesh Rao, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2025
Rowan Fisher-Shotton, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Nov. 2025
The Philippines is one of Asia’s most flood-prone countries but this year it has also been mired in a massive corruption scandal involving flood control projects that have brought thousands of protesters onto the streets.
—Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mire
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Noun
Daniel Kraus’s latest high-concept literary trapeze act follows a band of dishonorable soldiers on a mission to rescue a fallen angel from the mire of no-man’s-land.
—Neil McRobert, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2025
The Trump proclamation to increase H-1B visa fees to $100,000 mires their U.S. employment in uncertainty.
—Priyanka Salve,ganesh Rao, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2025
Verb
Meanwhile, the Jets, mired in a 1-7 start to the 2025 NFL season, dramatically increased their future draft capital at the November trade deadline by dealing defensive stars CB Sauce Gardner and DT Quinnen Williams.
—Rowan Fisher-Shotton, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Nov. 2025
The Philippines is one of Asia’s most flood-prone countries but this year it has also been mired in a massive corruption scandal involving flood control projects that have brought thousands of protesters onto the streets.
—Laura Sharman, CNN Money, 8 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mire
Cite this Entry
“Mire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mire. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mire
2 of 2 verb
mired; miring
1
a
: to sink or stick fast in mire
b
2
: to soil with mud or slush
Medical Definition
mire
noun
: any of the objects on the arm of an ophthalmometer that are used to measure astigmatism by the reflections they produce in the cornea when illuminated
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