mire

[ mahyuhr ]

noun

1. a tract or area of wet, swampy ground; bog; marsh.
2. ground of this kind, as wet, slimy soil of some depth or deep mud.

verb (used with object)

, mired, mir·ing.

1. to plunge and fix in mire; cause to stick fast in mire.
2. to involve; entangle.
3. to soil with mire; bespatter with mire.

verb (used without object)

, mired, mir·ing.

1. to sink and stick in mire or mud.

mire

/ maɪə /

noun

1. a boggy or marshy area
2. mud, muck, or dirt

verb

1. to sink or cause to sink in a mire
2. tr to make dirty or muddy
3. tr to involve, esp in difficulties

Derived Forms

• ˈmiry, adjective
• ˈmiriness, noun

Other Words From

• mired adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of mire¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old Norse mȳrr “bog”; cognate with Old English mēos moss

Word History and Origins

Origin of mire¹

C14: from Old Norse mӯrr; related to moss

Example Sentences

That most recent racial reckoning has been just one aspect of the deepening mire of controversy in which Tesla has found itself in recent months.

From Time

Engineers on both sides of the border prodded sewage control gates with sticks and sent cameras down into the mire searching for a block, but discovered nothing.

From Voice of San Diego

Any legal challenges could have happened as early as possible, so that we wouldn’t go through another cold season in the mire of yet another outbreak.

From The Daily Beast

Desert warfare was, by definition, mobile warfare, the antithesis of the lethal attrition in the mire of the Western Front.

From The Daily Beast

But she let us film her journey back from the mire of scandal and the brink of despair for OWN.

From The Daily Beast

Truly the flag of Britain was trailing in the mire, or these men would not have dared to address him in that fashion.

From Project Gutenberg

"But it was n't a lie," Punch would begin, charging into a laboured explanation that landed him more hopelessly in the mire.

From Project Gutenberg

But the wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest, and the waves thereof cast up dirt and mire.

From Project Gutenberg

The vault was ankle deep in mire and so crowded were the prisoners that no one could sit without leaning upon another.

From Project Gutenberg

And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the streets.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bog down
• embroil
• enmesh
• ensnare
• entangle
• flounder
• implicate
• involve
• stick
• tangle
• trap