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Mire vs Morass - What's the difference?

mire | morass |

As nouns the difference between mire and morass

is that mire is deep mud; moist, spongy earth while morass is a tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.

As a verb mire

is to weigh down.

mire

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) , whence Old English mos (English moss).

Noun

(en noun)
  • Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
  • * When Caliban was lazy and neglected his work, Ariel (who was invisible to all eyes but Prospero’s) would come slyly and pinch him, and sometimes tumble him down in the mire .'' (, ''Tales from Shakespeare , Hatier, coll. « Les Classiques pour tous » n° 223, p. 51)
  • An undesirable situation, a predicament.
    • Synonyms
    * (deep mud) peatland, quag
    Hypernyms
    * (deep mud) wetland
    Hyponyms
    * (deep mud) bog, fen
    Derived terms
    * mire crow * mire drum * miry * in the mire * quagmire

    Verb

    (mir)
  • To weigh down.
  • To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
    • to mire a horse or wagon
  • To soil with mud or foul matter.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Smirched thus and mired with infamy.

    Etymology 2

    Perhaps related to Middle Dutch miere (Dutch mier). Cognate with Old Norse maurr, Danish myre. All probably from (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) An ant.

    • Anagrams

    * ----

    morass

    English

    Noun

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