bog
1 Americannoun
-
wet, spongy ground with soil composed mainly of decayed vegetable matter.
-
an area or stretch of such ground.
verb (used with or without object)
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bogs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bogged,
past participle, past
-
bogging
present participle
verb phrase
noun
noun
-
wet spongy ground consisting of decomposing vegetation, which ultimately forms peat
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an area of such ground
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a place or thing that prevents or slows progress or improvement
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a slang word for lavatory
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slang the act or an instance of defecating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bogsimple
-
bogssimple
-
have boggedperfect
-
has boggedperfect
-
am boggingprogressive
-
are boggingprogressive
-
is boggingprogressive
-
have been boggingperfect progressive
-
has been boggingperfect progressive
Past
-
boggedsimple
-
had boggedperfect
-
was boggingprogressive
-
were boggingprogressive
-
had been boggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bog1
1495–1505; < Irish or Scots Gaelic bogach soft ground ( bog soft + -ach noun suffix); bog 1 ( def. 4 ) perhaps a different word
Origin of bog2
1780–90; probably shortening of bog-house; compare bog to defecate, boggard (16th century) privy, of obscure origin
Explanation
You'd be pretty soggy by morning if you accidentally set your tent up in a bog. A bog is a swampy kind of ground made up mostly of decomposing plants and mosses. Nothing can be built on a bog because the ground is so spongy and damp, and no crops can be grown there. The dried soil from a bog can, however, be dried and burned for fuel. A figurative bog is anything that you tend to get stuck in, like a bog of health problems. Things can also "bog you down", or slow you down literally or figuratively, like when your homework bogs you down so you can't enjoy the weekend.
Vocabulary lists containing bog
St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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"The Monkey's Paw," Vocabulary from the short story
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English Words Derived from Gaelic
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“There are big companies that have a lot of money, deep pockets — they could suffocate you, they can bog you down in litigation to the point where you can’t financially match them,” Colter said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
One such bog in Sweden called Gullåkra, “fields of gold,” served as a site of ritual sacrifice for millennia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The peat possesses a force of its own; one can easily lose a boot in a bog.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The real engineer of a healthy bog, experts say though, is sphagnum moss.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
The very plants were unknown to them—pink lousewort with its sprays of hooked flowers, bog asphodel and the thin-stemmed blooms of the sundews, rising above their hairy, fly-catching mouths, all shut fast by night.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
In “Bogland,” Merritt Turetsky presents bogs as remote and difficult yet beautiful and full of life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Then in 1857, the regime of Emperor Napoleon III ordered the planting of maritime pines to drain the bogs of southwestern France.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
"Foundations are sometimes built on peat bogs: if these dry out, they shrink, and cracks can appear in buildings," she said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Dr Peter Jones has spent the past 30 years immersed - quite literally - in bogs, fens and wetlands, trying to help save the planet and earning himself the nickname The Bogfather in the process.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2026
It used to go with Bunny and me on long, grueling rambles through the countryside every Sunday, over fences and streams, through bogs and pastures.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Regarding his strategy for dealing with stress, Wilcox said: "My wife will know when I am bogged down with frustration. When I re-energise, I do it on my own. Me and the dog, walking."
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
The Don’t Have a Clue bag is a way to keep yourself from getting bogged down, she said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
With only the swirling sounds of an overhead air conditioning vent to cloud her thoughts, she explained that, at the beginning, “Estrus” was bogged down by an unprecedented wave of writer’s block.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
The authors can get bogged down in such second-order analysis, and their text has an academic tone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
In April 1917, an offensive by British and Canadian troops at the city of Arras in northern France bogged down in sleet, snow, and ankle-deep mud.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
EU membership also risks bogging down Icelandic businesses in bureaucracy, she and other business leaders said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Late-arriving tax forms from partnerships and brokerage firms are also bogging down returns, O’Saben noted.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
But Kail’s fleet maneuvers keep the production from bogging down without lessening the emotional combustion that is the source of the playwright’s lasting genius.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
"For that potential purchase to best compliment Netflix, the planned split of WBD would make its studio more attractive without bogging it down with TV networks that aren't as agile as Netflix," Benes told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2025
There was sand in the road and they had to throw all their weight on the pedals to keep from bogging.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
