quicksand

quick·sand | \ ˈkwik-ˌsand

How to pronounce quicksand (audio)

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Definition of quicksand

1 : sand readily yielding to pressure especially : a deep mass of loose sand mixed with water into which heavy objects readily sink

2 : something that entraps or frustrates lead poor people into consumerist quicksand— Robert Wright

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Examples of quicksand in a Sentence

freed from the quicksands of war mired in the quicksand of credit card debt

Recent Examples on the Web So many people want to have the right to die and take others down into their selfish quicksand. — Elly Belle, refinery29.com, "Florida Gym Protesters Might End Up Regretting This Strategy," 12 May 2020 Death by quicksand or indentured to China: Neither is a pleasant future to contemplate for our closest and oldest allies. — Peter Rough, National Review, "The European Union Needs More National Flexibility," 22 Apr. 2020 The quicksand spot is one of a series of Quibi advertisements that explore the theme of mobile entertainment as an inappropriate way to spend the remaining moments of your life. — Dan Brooks, New York Times, "What’s a Quibi? A Way to Amuse Yourself Until You’re Dead," 26 Feb. 2020 Most of us weren’t terribly obsessed by a man in a large white house spinning the world into chaos one tweet at a time, though the actual planet already was waist-deep in the quicksand of our worst decisions, environmentally speaking. — Tod Goldberg, USA TODAY, "Review: Jenny Offill's brilliant, satirical 'Weather' takes temperature of current political moment," 11 Feb. 2020 The soil here is not very deep and there's no quicksand, so no fear of that. — Sarah Sekula, USA TODAY, "Swamp tromp: The best way to see the Florida Everglades," 18 Feb. 2020 Imagine trying to free a baby elephant from quicksand. — David Beard, Car and Driver, "2020 Ski-Doo Summit 850 Turbo Finds Higher Ground," 14 Feb. 2020 Sweeping past a canal and an embankment, the landslide tore into the Pantglas Junior School, breaching the walls of four classrooms and trapping those inside in a flood of thick, quicksand-like sludge. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, "The True Story of the Aberfan Disaster," 15 Nov. 2019 There really is no excuse for the harm done to Downey, a world-class actor who’s sucked down into this quicksand of a movie that even Iron Man couldn’t salvage. — Bethonie Butler, Washington Post, "10 of the most scathing reviews of ‘Dolittle,’ a ‘shockingly unfunny’ act of ‘movie malpractice’," 16 Jan. 2020

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

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Last Updated

27 May 2020

Cite this Entry

“Quicksand.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quicksand. Accessed 1 Jun. 2020.

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