Definition of quagmire
1 : soft miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
2 : a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament
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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 of quagmire from the Web
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The typically low profile position Schaub occupies has been thrust into the headlines this year thanks to the many ethical quagmires created by different members of the Trump administration.
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The ball would slip out of my hands and the place became a quagmire.
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Still, here was a man who cut through the political quagmire and got things done.
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Garden Chairman James Dolan finally stepped into the quagmire Jackson had created and met with Jackson, who had two years and $24 million left on a deal thanks to an option the two sides picked up in April, and pushed him out.
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Weddings are a universal quagmire of money and guilt — so many people to appease, fragile feelings, and dollar signs!
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Its Clean Water Act protection is stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire — the stream's future tied to the fate of the last, large area of Jefferson County not already fully developed.
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Others think the Syrian Civil War is a quagmire and should be avoided at all costs.
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Besides, eliminating the vanity quagmire of choosing between great skin now or great skin later is worth the purchase alone.
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.
First Known Use of quagmire
circa 1580
Other Ecology Terms
QUAGMIRE Defined for English Language Learners
quagmire
playDefinition of quagmire for English Language Learners
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: an area of soft, wet ground
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: a situation that is hard to deal with or get out of : a situation that is full of problems
QUAGMIRE Defined for Kids
quagmire
playDefinition of quagmire for Students
1 : soft spongy wet ground that shakes or gives way under the foot
2 : a difficult situation Repairing the old house became a costly quagmire.
Learn More about quagmire
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See words that rhyme with quagmire Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for quagmire Spanish Central: Translation of quagmire Nglish: Translation of quagmire for Spanish speakers
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