quagmire

English

WOTD – 7 June 2016

A quagmire or swamp in Louisiana, United States

Etymology

Recorded since 1579, from quag +‎ mire. The sense “perilous, mixed up and troubled situation” has been recorded since 1775.

Alternatively, the word may apparently be a variation of the earlier quakemire, from quake + mire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɒɡ.maɪə(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkwæɡ.maɪəɹ/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: quag‧mire

Noun

quagmire (plural quagmires)

1. A swampy, soggy area of ground.

   That quagmire regularly ‘swallows’ caught-up hikers' boots

   Synonyms: marsh, marshland, mire, quag

2. (figuratively) A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle; a predicament.

   The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy.

   Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union

   • 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are waged on and off the Game Of Thrones battlefield (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1]:

     I’ve had my doubts about Daenerys’ ability to rule, inspired in part by the quagmire in Meereen. Still, this feels like a precipitous decline. The queen of sobriquets has always been power hungry.

Translations

swampy ground

• Bashkir: һаҙ (haź)
• Belarusian: бало́та n (balóta), дры́гва f (drýhva), ба́гна n (báhna)
• Catalan: pantà (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沼澤／沼泽 (zh) (zhǎozé), 沼泽 (zh) (zhǎozé)

• Czech: bažina (cs) f, močál m, třasovisko n
• Danish: sump (da) c, dynd n
• Dutch: (land) moeras (nl) n
• Finnish: hete (fi), hetteikkö, jorpakko (fi)
• French: bourbier (fr) m, marais (fr) m, marécage (fr) m
• Galician: groto (gl) m, aluteiro m, lamazal (gl) m, tremoeiro m, chagorza f, toleiro (gl) m, sapale m, foroncho m, bulleiro (gl) m
• Georgian: ჭაობი (č̣aobi), ჭანჭრობი (č̣anč̣robi)
• German: Sumpf (de) m, Morast (de) m, Morastboden m, Sumpfboden m
• Greek: βάλτος (el) m (váltos)
• Hindi: दलदल (hi) m (daldal)
• Irish: bogach m
• Italian: pantano (it) m
• Japanese: 泥濘 (ぬかるみ, nukarumi) (colloquial), 沼地 (ぬまち, numachi) (type of a land), 湿地 (ja) (しっち, shitchi)
• Khmer: ភក់ជ្រៅ (pʰʊək crɨv)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: powharu, wharu, oru, poharu
• Norwegian: myr f, sump (no) n, sump (no) n
• Old Church Slavonic: блато n (blato)
• Persian: باتلاق (fa) (bâtlâq), خلاب (fa) (xalâb)
• Polish: bagno (pl) n, trzęsawisko (pl) n
• Portuguese: pântano (pt) m, charco (pt) m, brejo (pt) m, paul (pt) m
• Romanian: mlaștină (ro) f
• Russian: боло́то (ru) n (bolóto), топь (ru) f (topʹ), тряси́на (ru) f (trjasína)
• Scots: champ
• Scottish Gaelic: boglach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бла̏то n

  Roman: blȁto (sh) n

• Spanish: pantano (es) m, ciénaga (es) f, tremedal (es) m, cenagal (es) m, barrizal m
• Swedish: gungfly (sv), moras (sv), sumpmark (sv)
• Ukrainian: трясови́на f (trjasovýna), боло́то (uk) n (bolóto)
• Walloon: bourbî m, wachisse (wa) m, maraexhe (wa) m or f
• Westrobothnian:

perilous, mixed up and troubled situation

• Danish: dynd n, hængedynd n
• Dutch: moeras (nl) n, drijfzand (nl) n
• Finnish: sokkelo (fi), syöverit pl, kiipeli
• French: bourbier (fr) m
• German: Zwickmühle (de) f
• Greek: τέλμα (el) n (télma)
• Japanese: 苦境 (ja) (kukyō), 窮地 (ja) (kyūchi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: hengemyr f, kvikksand f
• Portuguese: confusão (pt) f
• Russian: тряси́на (ru) f (trjasína), боло́то (ru) n (bolóto)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: živi pijesak

• Spanish: dilema (es) m, apuro (es) m
• Swedish: träsk (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} тресавище (bg) (tresavište)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} pantà (ca) m
• French: ^{(please verify)} marais (fr) m, ^{(please verify)} marécage (fr) m
• German: ^{(please verify)} Sumpf (de) m
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} palude, ^{(please verify)} fangositate
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} pantano (it) m, ^{(please verify)} ginepraio (it) m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 곤경 (ko) (gon'gyeong)
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 泥沼 (zh) (ní zhǎo)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} pantano (es) m, ^{(please verify)} tremedal (es) m, ^{(please verify)} cenagal (es) m, ^{(please verify)} barrizal m
• Volapük: ^{(please verify)} maräd (vo), ^{(please verify)} lulak (vo)

Verb

1. (transitive) To embroil (a person, etc.) in complexity or difficulty.

References

• “quagmire”, in OneLook Dictionary Search..