quagmire

noun

quag·mire | \ ˈkwag-ˌmī(-ə)r

, ˈkwäg-

Definition of quagmire

1 : soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot

2 : a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament

Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about quagmire

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Examples of quagmire in a Sentence

A Girl of the Limberlost is a Cinderella story whose wicked stepmother, in an interesting twist, is the heroine's real mother. She is a crazy person, deranged by grief for a husband who was sucked into a quagmire before her eyes when she was pregnant with Elnora. — Janet Malcolm, New York Review of Books, 15 Jan. 2009 That was six months ago, when the Defense secretary laughingly dismissed the idea that Iraq was, or could turn into, a quagmire. But as Rumsfeld sat down last Friday morning to face Sen. John McCain, who spent six years in a Vietnamese prison, no one was laughing. — Michael Hirsh et al., Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2003 State involvement will create a vast bioethical quagmire. Even if everyone magically agrees that improving a child's memory is as valid as avoiding dyslexia, there will still be things taxpayers aren't ready to pay for—genes of unproven benefit, say, or alterations whose downsides may exceed the upside. — Robert Wright, Time, 11 Jan.1999 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 a protracted custody dispute that became a judicial quagmire

Recent Examples on the Web

And while Pakistan’s new prime minister, Imran Khan, has vowed to be something of a middleman to help improve the increasingly hostile relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, playing two sides inserts Islamabad into something of a quagmire. — Hollie Mckay, Fox News, "Iran, in shadow proxy war with Saudis, expands its Pakistan influence," 12 Sep. 2018 Is there a way out of this moral and fiscal quagmire? — Steve H. Hanke And Stephen J.k. Walters, WSJ, "Lying Prices Keep America Hooked on Spending," 7 Jan. 2019 But unlike in Bahrain, the Saudi intervention in Yemen turned into a quagmire. — Kamran Bokhari, WSJ, "Don’t Let Yemen Become a Proxy of Iran," 16 Nov. 2018 The quagmire has deepened of late, with the Taliban continuing to wage attacks on Afghan and allied troops. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "Trump will reportedly remove 7,000 troops from Afghanistan," 21 Dec. 2018 Censoring fake news could become a quagmire Facebook has tried to thread the needle by insisting that Jones' content is being removed for violating policies against hate speech—not policies against fake news. — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, "Op-ed: Alex Jones is a crackpot—but banning him from Facebook might be a bad idea [Updated]," 6 Aug. 2018 The political quagmire of the Alaska governor’s race All this has brought Walker to a point where he’s being challenged by both parties. — Dylan Scott, Vox, "2018’s most fascinating governor’s election, explained," 20 Aug. 2018 To avoid this quagmire, President Trump should work with congressional Republicans to incorporate additional free-trade features in the USMCA’s implementing legislation so that it can be passed before the next Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2019. — Pat Toomey, WSJ, "Let’s Vote on the New Nafta in the Current Congress," 20 Nov. 2018 The only real way out of the quagmire is for the field to commit to practices designed to correct these problems. — Cathleen O'grady, Ars Technica, "What do we actually know about the risks of screen time and digital media?," 17 Oct. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'quagmire.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.