quicksand

[ kwik-sand ]

noun

1. a bed of soft or loose sand saturated with water and having considerable depth, yielding under weight and therefore tending to suck down any object resting on its surface.

quicksand

/ ˈkwɪkˌsænd /

noun

1. a deep mass of loose wet sand that submerges anything on top of it

quicksand

/ kwĭk′sănd′ /

1. A deep bed of loose, smoothly rounded sand grains, saturated with water and forming a soft, shifting mass that yields easily to pressure and tends to engulf objects resting on its surface. Although it is possible for a person to drown while mired in quicksand, the human body is less dense than any quicksand and is thus not drawn or sucked beneath the surface as is sometimes popularly believed.

Other Words From

• quicksandy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of quicksand¹

First recorded in 1275–1325, quicksand is from the Middle English word qwykkesand. See quick, sand

Example Sentences

Brown has spent key stretches of the postseason rescuing doomed possessions, but here he ran into quicksand.

From FiveThirtyEight

They fought their way out of it, dug their way out of that quicksand.

From Washington Post

Then when we were finally able to come back, it was like we were moving in quicksand.

From Washington Post

To Herron it has felt like “a marathon that I ran in quicksand, getting nowhere quickly.”

From The Daily Beast

The 1905 guide An Elementary Class-Book of Practical Coal-Mining touts its effectiveness in digging mine shafts through quicksand.

From The Daily Beast

That next morning felt slow and strange, like wading through quicksand.

From The Daily Beast

The McKesson proxy statement is 100-plus pages of quicksand.

From The Daily Beast

Five minutes later, he is up to his thighs in liquid that is quicksand thick.

From The Daily Beast

In ground which is of the nature of quicksand, piles will often slowly rise to their original position after each blow.

From Project Gutenberg

And now at last we can step again from the treacherous quicksand of reminiscences on the terra firma of documents.

From Project Gutenberg

On the west side timbers and wool sacks were sunk into a quicksand upon which to rest the foundations of the abutment.

From Project Gutenberg

And I beheld her walk straight into the borders of the quicksand where it is more abrupt and dangerous.

From Project Gutenberg

The boy's mount had mired one foot in a quicksand pocket and had gone down on its knees.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• ambush
• bait
• booby trap
• device
• net
• pitfall
• ploy
• quagmire
• ruse