## Meanings
1. a stretch of swampy or boggy ground
2. a complicated or unpleasant situation that is difficult to escape
3. to involve someone or something in a difficult situation; to become stuck in mud

## Examples
- The heavy rains turned the field into a mire.
- He found himself in a mire of legal troubles.
- She was mired in debt after the business failed.

## Synonyms
- bog
- swamp
- quagmire
- marsh
- slough
- predicament
- quandary
- mess
- entanglement
- bog down
- sink
- ensnare

## Antonyms
- extricate
- free
- release

## Etymology
From Proto-Germanic mighr ('bog, swamp') through Old Norse míra ('bog, swamp') and Middle English mire ('bog, swamp') to modern English mire, denoting wet, swampy ground and, figuratively, entanglement.

## AI Etymology
Mire comes from Proto-Germanic mighr ('bog, swamp') through Old Norse míra ('bog, swamp') and Middle English mire ('bog, swamp') to modern English mire, denoting wet, swampy ground and, figuratively, entanglement. In current use it is a noun and verb meaning "a stretch of swampy or boggy ground". That sense is explained by the older material without requiring a speculative semantic step: the inherited or borrowed base supplies the field of meaning, while the English formation fixes its modern role. The history is mainly one of transmission into English, with the older form and sense carried through borrowing or adaptation. For dictionary purposes, the important point is the continuity between the older form, the route into English, and the present lexical sense.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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