(Source)

Have you read Washington Irving's story "The Devil and Tom Walker"? It's great. And very short. It's about a morass, both a literal one (a dark swamp) and a figurative one (a sticky situation, which in this case is a deal with the devil), and right in the opening sentence, Irving teaches the word morass:

"A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles Bay, and terminating in a thickly wooded swamp or morass."

There we have it: a morass is a swamp, perhaps a thickly wooded one. You can practically see the darkness and feel the tension in that word, morass; you just know that things are going to get sticky, muddy, and swampy for the titular Tom Walker when he meets the devil. (It's gonna get very F___tian: step 1, sell your soul for wealth; step 2, disaster.)

As we're exploring the word morass, see if you can recall these close synonyms: any bad situation that's hard to get out of is a m___ (1 syllable) or a qu__m___ (2 syllables).

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

(Source)

Above, things go poorly for Buttercup as she and Westley journey through a morass.

"Morass" traces back through Dutch to the Old French word marais, meaning "marsh," and that's exactly what a morass is: a marsh, a swamp, a sticky bog.

Usually we use this word figuratively: a morass of things is a swampy, sticky, muddy, unpleasant situation that's hard to get through, and hard to get out of.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "It's a morass;" "How will they get out of this morass?"

Other forms: 

We hardly ever use the plural, but if you need it, it's "morasses."

If you need an adjective, you can pick between "morassy" and "morassic," both of which are rare. I like them both.

how to use it:

"Morass" is a formal, semi-common word. It helps you call a bit of extra attention to an unpleasant situation that seems wet, muddy, or sticky: one that's slow and difficult to get through, or out of.

You could call some situation a morass, or call it a morass of certain things. "I liked my classes in grad school, but not the whole thesis morass." "My thesis was a morass of meetings and paperwork." "My kid's backpack is a morass of loose bent papers and stubby eraserless pencils." One more example, a feisty one: the Washington Post referred to a brand of women's clothing as "a morass of bland shift dresses, unflattering cropped pants, and shoes that were gawd-awful dowdy."

examples:

"Voice control... could ultimately be an easier and more elegant interface than the morass of buttons and menus we face today. Just think how hard it is to work a friend's microwave, convection oven or thermostat, and imagine instead just telling it what you'd like it to do."
  — Christopher Mims, Wall Street Journal, 12 July 2018

"There is also something else. Something I don't recognize. It is impossible to name it because the word 'hope' can't find its way through this morass of pain. But it is there, small and white, and it will grow." 
  — Leslie Schwartz, Salon, 7 July 2018

has this page helped you understand "morass"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "morass" without saying "bog" or "predicament."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Something) is a morass of (something and something)."

Example 1: "I have this recurring dream where I can't find my way out of a building; it's a morass of dingy stairwells and row after row of elevators that won't go all the way down."

Example 2: "The rain might have stopped, but the compound was still a morass of shallow lakes and slippery mud."
  — George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, 1998

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Name the Game!"

I'll share some tidbits about a particular board game with a one-word name, and you try to name it. 

You can scroll all the way down to see the game's real name. Maybe you'll come up with the correct name, or one that’s just as apt!

Try this last one today:

The game's name is 2 syllables.

It starts with H.

"Grab your farming hat and tend the land to be the best farmer in Furroughfield."

review this word:

1. The opposite of a MORASS could be

A. a CAKEWALK: an easy win, or a situation you can easily navigate.
B. a MAELSTROM: a whirlpool, or a situation that's violent and chaotic.
C. a WHIRLIGIG: a spinning toy, or a place or situation that's full of motion.

2. According to The Woman All Spies Fear, a biography by Amy Butler Greenfield, William Friedman's wife Elizebeth helped him "_____ a psychological morass that was pretty _____ and distressing."

A. slay .. demonic
B. climb up out of .. deep
C. shimmy down from .. steep

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. B From the game: Harvest. One of my favorites. Very sweet.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.