the.com/morass
A swamp that learned to operate in the abstract, swallowing whole afternoons.
means A confusing, tangled situation you can't easily escape — or a literal patch of soft, boggy ground.
from From Dutch moeras, swamp, tangled with old French marais; the muddy literal sense oozed into the figurative one of any inescapable mess.
Two meaningsReal bog and bureaucratic bog both qualify.
Word cousinShares ancestry with marsh and moor.
Usage tellAlmost always preceded by tangled or bewildering.