1
: wet spongy earth (as of a bog or marsh)
the mire is relieved only by small stretches of open dry forest—
Saturday Review
Saturday Review2
: heavy often deep mud or slush
The troops trudged onward through the mire.
3
: a troublesome or intractable situation
found themselves in a mire of debt
mired; miring
1
a
: to cause to stick fast in or as if in mire
The car was mired in the muck.
b
: to hamper or hold back as if by mire : entangle
The company has been mired in legal problems.
2
: to cover or soil with mire
his mired boots
: to stick or sink in mire
a road in which horses and wagons mired regularly—Edmund Arnold
Edmund ArnoldSynonyms
Examples of mire in a Sentence
Noun
The troops marched onward through the muck and the mire.
played on a football field that was thick with mire
Verb
the sight of the standard, which had emerged from the battle mangled and mired, still stirred the soldiers' hearts
the case has been mired in probate court for years
Recent Examples on the WebBloomberg News, TIME, 11 Apr. 2024
Infusion of local and federal dollars into transit and housing
At the start of 2023, the county faced looming fiscal cliffs, with some departments, including transit, already sinking into a financial mire.
—Journal Sentinel, 19 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mire 
Noun
The country endured a major respiratory disease outbreak in 2023 after pulling itself out of the Covid mire in late 2022, well after other nations had thrown open their borders and allowed pathogens to resume their traditional circulation patterns.
—Bloomberg News, TIME, 11 Apr. 2024
Infusion of local and federal dollars into transit and housing
At the start of 2023, the county faced looming fiscal cliffs, with some departments, including transit, already sinking into a financial mire.
—Journal Sentinel, 19 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mire
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Mire.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mire. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mire
2 of 2 verb
mired; miring
1
a
: to sink or stick fast in mire
b
2
: to soil with mud or slush
Medical Definition
mire
noun
: any of the objects on the arm of an ophthalmometer that are used to measure astigmatism by the reflections they produce in the cornea when illuminated
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