Quagmire vs. Swamp — What's the Difference?
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Difference Between Quagmire and Swamp
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Definitions
Quagmire
Land with a soft muddy surface.
Swamp
A swamp is a forested wetland. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in creating this environment.
Quagmire
A difficult or precarious situation; a predicament.
Swamp
An area of low-lying land that is frequently flooded, especially one dominated by woody plants.
Quagmire
A swampy, soggy area of ground.
That quagmire regularly ‘swallows’ caught-up hikers’ boots
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Swamp
A lowland region saturated with water.
Quagmire
(figuratively) A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle.
The paperwork got lost in a quagmire of bureaucracy.
Those election results are a quagmire for any coalition except one of national union.
Swamp
A situation or place fraught with difficulties and imponderables
A financial swamp.
Quagmire
(transitive) To embroil (a person, etc.) in complexity or difficulty.
Swamp
To drench in or cover with or as if with water.
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Quagmire
Soft, wet, miry land, which shakes or yields under the feet.
Swamp
To inundate or burden; overwhelm
She was swamped with work.
Quagmire
A soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
Swamp
(Nautical) To fill (a ship or boat) with water to the point of sinking it.
Swamp
To become full of water or sink.
Swamp
A piece of wet, spongy land; low ground saturated with water; soft, wet ground which may have a growth of certain kinds of trees, but is unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.
Swamp
A type of wetland that stretches for vast distances, and is home to many creatures which have adapted specifically to that environment.
Swamp
(figurative) A place or situation that is foul or where progress is difficult.
Swamp
To drench or fill with water.
The boat was swamped in the storm.
Swamp
(figurative) To overwhelm; to make too busy, or overrun the capacity of.
I have been swamped with paperwork ever since they started using the new system.
Swamp
(figurative) To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
Swamp
Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore.
Gray swamps and pools, waste places of the hern.
A swamp differs from a bog and a marsh in producing trees and shrubs, while the latter produce only herbage, plants, and mosses.
Swamp
To plunge or sink into a swamp.
Swamp
To cause (a boat) to become filled with water; to capsize or sink by whelming with water.
Swamp
Fig.: To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped by the creation of twelve Tory peers.
Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus of a theory.
Swamp
To sink or stick in a swamp; figuratively, to become involved in insuperable difficulties.
Swamp
To become filled with water, as a boat; to founder; to capsize or sink; figuratively, to be ruined; to be wrecked.
Swamp
Low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog
Swamp
A situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables;
He was trapped in a medical swamp
Swamp
Drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged;
The tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor
Swamp
Fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid;
The basement was inundated after the storm
The images flooded his mind