QUICKSAND

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does quicksand mean? 

• QUICKSAND (noun)
  The noun QUICKSAND has 2 senses:

1. a treacherous situation that tends to entrap and destroy

2. a pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down

  Familiarity information: QUICKSAND used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUICKSAND (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A treacherous situation that tends to entrap and destroy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("quicksand" is a kind of...):

situation (a complex or critical or unusual difficulty)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("quicksand" is a kind of...):

cavity; pit (a sizeable hole (usually in the ground))

Meronyms (substance of "quicksand"):

sand (a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral)

 Context examples 

How can you build on such a quicksand?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The poor dear grew white as death, and shock and shivered, as I have seen a quicksand shake and shiver at the incoming of the tide.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

These, with their perplexities and inconsistencies, were the shifting quicksands of my mind, from the time of my departure to the time of my return home, three years afterwards.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)