KWAG-mire
QUAGMIRE A soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot; a complex or hazardous situation that is hard to escape.
20
Points in Scrabble
Base tile values • No multipliers applied
💡 Pro Tip:
Playing QUAGMIRE uses all tiles (7 from rack + 1 on board), earning a 50-point bingo bonus in Scrabble! Total potential: $70 points before multipliers.
A quagmire literally refers to a soft boggy area of land that gives way underfoot, essentially a marsh or swamp where solid ground becomes treacherous mud. The word combines 'quag' (to shake) with 'mire' (swampy ground), perfectly capturing the unstable nature of such terrain.
Metaphorically, quagmire has become more commonly used to describe any complex, hazardous, or entrapping situation from which it is difficult to escape. Political and military ventures are often described as quagmires when they become protracted and seemingly impossible to resolve.
In word games, 'quagmire' is an excellent 8-letter word featuring the high-scoring Q. Its combination of common letters with the Q makes it more playable than many Q words, and its length makes it eligible for bingo bonuses.
The figurative use of quagmire has largely overtaken its literal meaning in modern English. It's particularly favored in political commentary and journalism to describe intractable conflicts or complicated situations with no clear resolution.
The word 'quagmire' dates from the 1570s, combining 'quag' (a variant of 'quake,' meaning to shake or tremble) with 'mire' (muddy or swampy ground). The 'quag' element likely comes from the quaking or trembling motion of unstable boggy ground when walked upon. The metaphorical sense of 'difficult situation' emerged in the 1760s. The word gained renewed prominence during the Vietnam War, which was frequently described as a quagmire.
Words with similar meaning
BOG
Wet spongy ground
SWAMP
Wetland area
MARSH
Waterlogged land
MORASS
Area of muddy ground
PREDICAMENT
Difficult situation
DILEMMA
Difficult choice
Words with opposite meaning
SOLUTION
Answer to problem
RESOLUTION
Solving of problem
FIRM GROUND
Stable surface
CLARITY
Clear understanding
Plural Form
quagmires
Adjective Form
quagmiry
Related Terms
Complex political situation
Become trapped
Protracted conflict
Complex legal situation
Administrative mess
Total base points: 20 (Scrabble)
Vowels: 4 | Consonants: 4
Can be built from:
Can extend to:
Other high-scoring 8-letter words (Scrabble)
If you can't play QUAGMIRE, consider these subwords:
"The hikers found themselves in a dangerous quagmire after wandering off the marked trail."
"The peace negotiations became a diplomatic quagmire with no clear path forward."
"Heavy rains had turned the construction site into a muddy quagmire."
[object Object]
Literal vs figurative
Now mostly used figuratively
Pronunciation
KWAG-mire, not KWAY-mire
Overuse
Can be cliché in political writing
Practice unscrambling letters to find more high-scoring words like QUAGMIRE