quagmirequag‧mire /ˈkwæɡmaɪə, ˈkwɒɡ- $ ˈkwæɡmaɪr/ noun [countable usually singular]Word Origin
WORD ORIGINquagmire
Origin:
1500-1600quag ‘soft wet ground’(16-20 centuries) (perhaps from quag ‘to shake’(17-19 centuries)) + mire
Examples
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
For the U.S., the war in Vietnam was a moral and military quagmire.
EXAMPLES FROM THE CORPUS
But the prospect of hostage-taking opens up a new quagmire.
Constant rain turned some of the walkways into quagmires.
In early April it becomes a quagmire where people challenge their four-wheel-drives in the mud.
Indeed, the inter-connections of this penal trinity of population, capacity and conditions form the heart of the reform quagmire.
It may also distract its members from the present quagmire with legends of a storied past or promises of an ecstatic future.
Still others have found themselves trapped in a horrendous and expensive quagmire of political, emotional, financial and legal issues.
There is little more that we can do about this quagmire.
Torrential rain was quickly turning the building-site into a quagmire.
1an area of soft wet muddy ground: In the rainy season the roads become a quagmire.2a difficult or complicated situation: The Balkan situation became a political and military quagmire.