mire

1 of 2

noun

ˈmī(-ə)r 

1

: wet spongy earth (as of a bog or marsh)

the mire is relieved only by small stretches of open dry forest

—Saturday Review

2

: 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

miry

ˈmīr-ē 

adjective

mire

2 of 2

verb

mired; miring

transitive verb

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

intransitive verb

: to stick or sink in mire

a road in which horses and wagons mired regularly

—Edmund Arnold

Synonyms

Noun

• guck
• gook
• muck
• mud
• ooze
• slime
• slop
• sludge
• slush

Verb

• befoul
• begrime
• bemire
• besmirch
• blacken
• daub
• dirty
• distain [archaic]
• foul
• gaum [dialect]
• grime
• muck
• muddy
• smirch
• smudge
• soil
• stain
• sully

Examples 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

Noun

Narratively, The Handmaid’s Tale was so deep in the Trumpian mire that even when Trump decisively lost the 2020 election, there was no opportunity to imagine or reflect any resumption of liberty tied to a Biden presidency. —Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 3 Apr. 2025

Lesser biographies pick sides; Mangold trusts us to find our own path through the mire, while noting the particular risk of being a wunderkind hoisted up into a deity. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025

Verb

The Jets, mired in a nine-game playoff road losing streak, must beat the Stars in Dallas on Saturday. —Murat Ates, New York Times, 16 May 2025

Both the Rockies and Pirates are bad teams mired in bad seasons and have fired their managers within the past week. —Dan Schlossberg, Forbes.com, 14 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English, from Old Norse mȳrr; akin to Old English mōs marsh — more at moss

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Phrases Containing mire

• drag through the mire/mud

Rhymes for mire

• dire
• ire
• lyre
• quire
• spire
• squire
• admire
• afire
• aspire
• backfire
• esquire
• expire

Kids Definition

mire

1 of 2 noun

ˈmī(ə)r 

1

: wet spongy ground (as of a bog or marsh)

2

: heavy often deep mud or slush

miry

ˈmī(ə)r-ē 

adjective

mire

2 of 2 verb

mired; miring

1

a

: to sink or stick fast in mire

b

: entangle sense 2, involve

2

: to soil with mud or slush

Medical Definition

mire

noun

ˈmī(ə)r 

: 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