Quagmire
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A swampy, soggy area of ground. A perilous, mixed up and troubled situation; a hopeless tangle; a predicament.
Example sentence: Before and during the first phase of the war his administration repeatedly maligned the UN but now, that Iraq has turned into a quagmire, it is asking the UN for help.
Slack
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Small coal; coal dust.A valley, or small, shallow dell.The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.A tidal marsh or shallow, that periodically fills and drains.
Part of speech: adverb
Definition: Slackly.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Lax; not tense; not hard drawn; not firmly extended.Weak; not holding fast.Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager.Not violent, rapid, or pressing.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: to procrastinate; to be lazyto refuse or dislike exerting effort
Example sentence: Even if every major government were to slap huge taxes on carbon fuels - which is not going to happen - it wouldn't do much to halt climate change any time soon. What it would do is cost us hundreds of billions - if not trillions - of dollars, because alternative energy technologies are not yet ready to take up the slack.