Morass: Difference between revisions
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# A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen. | # A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen. | ||
#*: “Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt '''morass''', raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea.” | #*: “Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt '''morass''', raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea.” | ||
# | # ''(figurative)'' Anything that entraps or makes progress difficult. | ||
#*: “I wrote to Sacramento about that historical marker, and they've been kicking it around their bureaucratic '''morass''' for months.” | #*: “I wrote to Sacramento about that historical marker, and they've been kicking it around their bureaucratic '''morass''' for months.” | ||
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====References==== | ====References==== | ||
* [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morass Wiktionary – “morass”] | * [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morass Wiktionary – “morass”] | ||
* [https://youtu.be/pn1VGytzXus?si=lH86ubXgdGS2qdum – "the ass referred to in the Wandering Wikis Walkthrough Video"] | |||
Latest revision as of 06:23, 3 March 2026
English
[edit | edit source]Etymology
[edit | edit source]Borrowed from Middle Dutch moeras (“marsh, swamp”), altered with influence from Middle Dutch moer (“moor”). Ultimately from Old French mareis, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk. Doublet of marish and marsh. Compare moor and quagmire.
Pronunciation
[edit | edit source]- IPA (General American): /məˈɹæs/, /moˈɹæs/
- Rhymes: -æs
Noun
[edit | edit source]- A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.
- “Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass, raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea.”
- (figurative) Anything that entraps or makes progress difficult.
- “I wrote to Sacramento about that historical marker, and they've been kicking it around their bureaucratic morass for months.”