Meanings
plural morasses
- A tract of soft, wet ground; a marsh; a fen.
Seven miles to the north of Venice, the banks of sand, which near the city rise little above low-water mark, attain by degrees a higher level, and knit themselves at last into fields of salt morass, raised here and there into shapeless mounds, and intercepted by narrow creeks of sea.
1853, John Ruskin, “Torcello”, in The Stones of Venice, volume II (The Sea-Stories), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § I, page 11 - figurativelyAnything that entraps or makes progress difficult.
I wrote to Sacramento about that historical marker, and they've been kicking it around their bureaucratic morass for months.
1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 4, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 671 more example
The gay man must fully understand the reasons why he is as he is, and face the mass of unconscious shit put there by our society. This is the great morass between the philosophy and the actualization.
1974 February 16, Ian Johnson, “The Giving Up Of Power”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 34, page 5
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*marisk
- Old Frenchmareis
- Middle Dutchmarasch“marsh”
- Dutchmoer“moor”
- Dutchmoeras“marsh, swamp”
- Englishmorass
From Dutch moeras (“marsh, swamp”), an alteration (with influence from Dutch moer (“moor”)) of a direct descendant of Middle Dutch marasch (“marsh”). The Middle Dutch word is a borrowing from Old French mareis, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk. Doublet of marish and marsh, and linked in part to moor. Compare quagmire.
More words from Dutch, Middle Dutch, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian блато, мочур
- блато (blato)tract of soft, wet ground
- мочур (močur)tract of soft, wet ground
Czech močál, bažina
- močáltract of soft, wet ground
- bažinatract of soft, wet ground
- bahnotract of soft, wet ground
- marastanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Dutch moeras
- moerastract of soft, wet ground
Finnish suo, hetteikkö
- suotract of soft, wet ground
- hetteikkötract of soft, wet ground
- suoanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
French marais, marécage
- maraistract of soft, wet ground
- marécagetract of soft, wet ground
- bourbieranything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Hungarian hínár
- hínáranything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Irish bar, seascann
- bartract of soft, wet ground
- seascanntract of soft, wet ground
Italian pantano, pantano
- pantanotract of soft, wet ground
- pantanoanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Latin palūs
- palūstract of soft, wet ground
Polish bagno, trzęsawisko
- bagnotract of soft, wet ground
- trzęsawiskotract of soft, wet ground
- mokradłotract of soft, wet ground
- grzęzawiskotract of soft, wet ground
- moczartract of soft, wet ground
- błototract of soft, wet ground
- bagnoanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
- błotoanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
- gąszczanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Portuguese pântano, banhado
- pântanotract of soft, wet ground
- banhadotract of soft, wet ground
Romanian mlaștină
- mlaștinătract of soft, wet ground
Russian боло́то, тряси́на
- боло́то (bolóto)tract of soft, wet ground
- тряси́на (trjasína)tract of soft, wet ground
- тряси́на (trjasína)anything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Scottish Gaelic boglach
- boglachtract of soft, wet ground
Spanish pantano, marisma
- pantanotract of soft, wet ground
- marismatract of soft, wet ground
- almarjaltract of soft, wet ground
- armajaltract of soft, wet ground
- marjaltract of soft, wet ground
Swedish moras, moras
- morastract of soft, wet ground
- morasanything that entraps or makes progress difficult
Turkish bataklık
- bataklıktract of soft, wet ground
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with morass
Cite this entry
morass. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morass
“morass.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morass. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “morass,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/morass.
Source: morass on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.