Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Origin: quag 'soft wet ground' (16-20 centuries) (perhaps from quag 'to shake' (17-19 centuries)) + mire

quagmire

 noun
     
quag‧mire [countable usually singular]
1 an area of soft wet muddy ground:
In the rainy season the roads become a quagmire.
2 a difficult or complicated situation:
The Balkan situation became a political and military quagmire.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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