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
Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 28 Feb. 2025
However, starting a process early in President Trump's second term could prove helpful given the resulting legal morass, depending on the mechanism that the EPA employs to repeal it.
—Andrew Freedman, Axios, 27 Feb. 2025
Our digital landscape has become a morass of text — often without depth or purpose.
—Cornelia C. Walther, Forbes, 24 Feb. 2025
While there may be a role for insurance, the sheer number of insurance products available today often creates more confusion than clarity for Americans, forcing them to wade through the morass of fine print that can be purposely misleading and sometimes fraudulent.
—Renee Hsia, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Morass.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morass. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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