I. ˈkwagˌmī(ə)r, ˈkwaag-, ˈkwäg-, ˈkwaig-, -mīə noun
Etymology: quag (I) + mire
1.
a. : soft wet miry land that shakes or yields under the foot
the tamarack swamp … was too big and filled with bogs and quagmires — Howard Troyer
b. : a usually dry area of land converted into an expanse of soft wet ground by heavy rain or flooding
a trampled quagmire of mud under the never-ceasing downpour — G.R.Stewart
rain had turned the prairie trails into quagmires — Lyn Harrington
2. : something flabby, soft, or yielding
foggy quagmires of fat and dropsy — Thomas Brown
3. : a complex or precarious position where disengagement is difficult
from a quagmire of false nonsense to a firm island of reality — John Baker
a quagmire of perplexing problems — Fletcher Pratt
sunk to the ears in a quagmire of tedium and indifference — Claud Cockburn
lost in quagmires of negotiation
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to ensnare in or as if in a quagmire
a man is never quagmireed till he stops — W.S.Landor