Mary Roach
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The Swampy History of Morass
We won't swamp you with details: morass comes from the Dutch word moeras, which itself derives from an Old French word, maresc, meaning “marsh.” Morass has been part of English for centuries, and in its earliest uses was a synonym of swamp or marsh. (That was the sense Robert Louis Stevenson used when he described Long John Silver emerging from “a low white vapour that had crawled during the night out of the morass” in Treasure Island.) Imagine walking through a thick, muddy swamp: it's easy to compare such slogging to an effort to extricate yourself from a sticky situation. By the mid-19th century, morass had gained a figurative sense, and could refer to any predicament that was as murky, confusing, or difficult to navigate as a literal swamp.
Examples of morass in a Sentence
Darius Tahir, Miami Herald, 7 May 2025
The nearly $2T student loan morass is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with.
—Carlo Versano, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 May 2025
The Terps needed a coach who could credibly begin leading the climb out of that morass in days, not weeks.
—Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 1 Apr. 2025
What happened next has become a matter of intrigue and resulted in a sprawling legal morass that has consumed Hollywood and sparked intense public interest.
—Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for morass
Cite this Entry
“Morass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morass. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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