morass

Meaning

1. A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.
2. (figuratively) Anything that entraps or makes progress difficult.

Synonyms

marsh

quagmire

swamp

bog

mire

fen

quag

marshland

slough

slack

wetland

moor

Moor

heath

swale

swampland

scraw bog

glade

sludge

mudhole

bogland

swampy ground

bayou

wetlands

muddy place

pool

pond

mud

Translations

pantano

marais

pantano

palude

moeras

marécage

Sumpf

pântano

aiguamoll

Morast

pantà

brejo

βάλτος

palus

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məˈɹæs/

Etymology

From Dutch moeras (“marsh, swamp”), an alteration (with influence from Dutch moer (“moor”)) of a direct descendant of Middle Dutch marasch (“marsh”). The Middle Dutch word is a borrowing from Old French mareis, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk. Doublet of marish and marsh, and linked in part to moor. Compare quagmire.