morass
pronunciation
How to pronounce morass in British English:
UK [məˈræs]
How to pronounce morass in American English:
US [məˈræs, mɔ-]
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- Noun:
- a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
Word Origin
- morass (n.)
- "wet, swampy tract," 1650s, from Dutch moeras "marsh, fen," from Middle Dutch marasch, from Old French marais "marsh," from Frankish, possibly from West Germanic *marisk, from Proto-Germanic *mariskaz "like a lake," from *mari "sea" (see mere (n.)). The word was influenced in Dutch by moer "moor" (see moor (n.)). Figurative use is attested from 1867. Replaced earlier mareis (early 14c.; see marish).
Example
- 1. If the euro were to disappear altogether , the question of how to handle euro-denominated contracts would be a legal morass .
- 2. Spotlit by night , however , it writhes with a slithering morass of beetles , moths and bugs .
- 3. Warnings about extreme prices are often waved off as pessimism or lost in the morass of information we take in every day , allowing speculation to continue .
- 4. The danger is that their contribution will go the way of north sea oil : a once-in-a-generation stimulant , swamped by state-sponsored social programmes and government morass .
- 5. Ms. yan got caught up in a criminal morass when one of the checks deposited into her hong kong hsbc account turned out to be the proceeds from a mortgage fraud .