quagmire

Plural: quagmires

Noun

• A soft, boggy area, or a difficult, entrapping situation.
• a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
• A swampy, soggy area of ground.
• A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle.

Verb

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

Examples

• He found himself in a scoring quagmire, unable to form a decent word.
• That quagmire regularly ‘swallows’ caught-up hikers’ boots
• The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy.
• Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union.

Synonyms

mire, morass, quag, slack, ass in a sling, bind, bucket of syrup, calvary, cross, cross to bear, difficulty, dilemma, dire straits, doghouse, fix, hole, jam, kettle of fish, marsh, marshland, ordeal, pickle, pinch, plight, predicament, quagmire, quandary, situation, spot, spot of bother, sticky situation, sticky wicket, tight spot, trouble