泥沼
解説 Definition
進退が困難な非常に危険な状態や状況。逃げ場のない絶望的な状態を表す。
A quagmire is an area of soft, wet ground that is difficult to walk through. It is also commonly used in a figurative way for a difficult situation that is confusing and hard to escape from. This second meaning is very common in news and formal writing.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
mire が「沼・ぬかるみ」を表す語だと押さえると、quagmire は「ぐずぐずの地面＋沼」で、ただ muddy なだけでなく「足を取られて抜け出せない」感じが強い。そこから比喩で political quagmire, sink into a quagmire のように、戦争・交渉・経営などが泥沼化した状況にも使う。単なる problem や dilemma より、入り込んだ後に長引き、進むことも戻ることも難しい厄介さが中心。swamp や bog より「はまり込んで進退きわまる」語だと覚えると定着しやすい。
Focus on the `mire` part, which is wet, sticky ground. A `quagmire` is not just mud; it is the kind of place where you get stuck and cannot move easily. That is why it is also used for situations like a `political quagmire`, where getting in is easy but getting out is hard.
例文
The company found itself in a financial quagmire.
その企業は財政的な泥沼にはまり込んだ。
The political situation became a quagmire for the government.
その政治情勢は政府にとって泥沼となった。
They were trapped in a quagmire of debt.
彼らは借金の泥沼にはまり込んでいた。
quagmire の類義語・関連語
quagmire の語源・成り立ち Etymology
quagmire は英語方言 quag「ぬかるみ」と mire「沼」から成る語で、mire は古ノルド語 myrr「沼地」にさかのぼります。mire や miry と同根で、似た意味の語を重ねているぶん、ただの泥ではなく「抜け出せない泥沼」という感じが強まります。
Quagmire is made from dialect quag, meaning "bog" or "marsh," and mire, meaning "swamp" or "deep mud." Mire goes back to Old Norse myrr, "bog" or "marshland." Because both parts have a similar meaning, the compound became especially strong and vivid, suggesting a muddy place that traps you. Related words include mire and miry.
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