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

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 As early as 1945, Hooker employees had warned that the site could become a legal quagmire. — Sam Roberts, BostonGlobe.com, "Eugene Leff, fought for New York in Love Canal case," 25 Apr. 2018 American critics, including former president Barack Obama, once suggested that Syria would prove a quagmire for Russia, which would succumb to the mission creep that has plagued U.S. involvement in the Middle East. — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, "Russia stays in the driver’s seat in Syria," 10 July 2018 The 39th district has remained a quagmire, with six Democrats on the ballot and a Republican advantage in early voting. — David Weigel, chicagotribune.com, "Primary elections: What to watch in California, Alabama, Iowa and 5 other states," 5 June 2018 There were intense disputes between the White House and the Pentagon over troop levels as the Afghanistan war began to look like a quagmire. — Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times, "A Spymaster Steps Out of the Shadows," 27 June 2018 Higher education experts around the country were at a loss Friday to name another university in a similar legal quagmire. — Karen Herzog, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Be open and let chips fall where they may, experts advise in UW-Oshkosh scandal," 28 Apr. 2018 Imagine what would happen if the stars were to align and James were able to beat a superior team while rescuing a storied franchise from the gloomy quagmire of mediocrity. — Chris Gayomali, GQ, "The Upside of the Lakers," 2 July 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.