Mary Roach
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The Swampy History of Morass
We won't swamp you with details: morass comes from the Dutch word moeras, which itself derives from an Old French word, maresc, meaning “marsh.” Morass has been part of English for centuries, and in its earliest uses was a synonym of swamp or marsh. (That was the sense Robert Louis Stevenson used when he described Long John Silver emerging from “a low white vapour that had crawled during the night out of the morass” in Treasure Island.) Imagine walking through a thick, muddy swamp: it's easy to compare such slogging to an effort to extricate yourself from a sticky situation. By the mid-19th century, morass had gained a figurative sense, and could refer to any predicament that was as murky, confusing, or difficult to navigate as a literal swamp.
Examples of morass in a Sentence
Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2025
The manuals of government departments provide intricate guidelines and procedures, totaling an intimidating morass of rules—guidebooks that the bureaucracy can use to justify its actions, or lack thereof.
—Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
Both proponents and skeptics of the home-organization industry agree that consumerism is to blame for this morass.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2024
The culture and system of DOC has solidified into this morass of unaccountability and negligence that can probably only be excised from without, by an official not tethered to it or the city’s broader political strictures.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 21 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for morass
Cite this Entry
“Morass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morass. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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