morass

/məˈræs/ (bre, ipa) · /məˈræs/ (ame, ipa) · /mə-ˈras mȯ-/ (ame, mw)

morass — noun

  • morasssingular
  • morassesplural

1. a tangled, hopeless situation where so many problems pile up that you cannot mov

1.名詞C2
釋義

a tangled, hopeless situation where so many problems pile up that you cannot move forward — for example, a court case buried under paperwork, or a project tied up in red tape.

例句

Diya found herself stuck in a morass of insurance forms after her surgery.

collocation: morass of [noun] for a tangled problem

The new mayor inherited a financial morass left by years of bad spending.

noun phrase: a [adjective] morass for a complex bad situation

同義詞
  • quagmire

    near-synonym; same overwhelming-difficulty image, slightly more common in journalism

  • tangle

    less formal; suggests knotted complexity without the trapped feeling

  • muddle

    informal; smaller-scale confusion, not the heavy entrapment of 'morass'

反義詞
  • clarity

    the absence of confusion that defines a morass

文法句型

a morass of [noun]

用法筆記

Almost always followed by 'of + plural noun' (a morass of details, regulations, debts). Frequently appears with verbs of being trapped: sink into, wade through, get bogged down in. Distinguish from sense 2: the literal swamp meaning is rarely used in modern writing; this figurative sense dominates today.

常見錯誤

❌The country has a morass.
✅The country has fallen into a morass of corruption.
💡the noun normally needs an 'of [noun]' tail or a defining adjective; bare 'a morass' sounds incomplete.
❌There was a small morass of two emails.
✅There was a small pile of two emails.
💡'morass' implies overwhelming volume; do not use it for trivial quantities.

2. a stretch of low, soft, water-logged land where the surface gives way under a pe

2.名詞C2
釋義

a stretch of low, soft, water-logged land where the surface gives way under a person's weight, like a marsh or boggy patch by a river.

例句

The hikers carefully avoided the morass at the edge of the lake.

concrete: physical location described as a morass

Naoko's pony lost a shoe crossing the morass behind the old farmhouse.

同義詞
  • swamp

    everyday word for the same land type; preferred in modern writing

  • marsh

    low wet land, often near a coast or river; more neutral than 'morass'

  • bog

    wet peaty ground; often colder, northern landscapes

反義詞

用法筆記

Literal-physical reading; modern English usually prefers 'marsh', 'swamp', or 'bog' here, so this sense reads as poetic or old-fashioned. Distinguish from sense 1 by context — a physical landscape word with mud, water, ground.

常見錯誤

❌A morass is a small wet puddle.
✅A morass is a stretch of soft wet land.
💡it describes a whole area of ground, not a single puddle.