Quicksand vs. Swamp — What's the Difference?

Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. Quicksand forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated.

A swamp is a forested wetland. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in creating this environment.

Loose wet sand that yields easily to pressure and sucks in anything resting on or falling into it

An area of low-lying land that is frequently flooded, especially one dominated by woody plants.

Sand that is mixed with water in a collected mass and yields easily to pressure so that objects on its surface tend to sink and become engulfed.

A lowland region saturated with water.

Often quicksands A place or situation into which entry can be swift and sudden but from which extrication can be difficult or impossible

A situation or place fraught with difficulties and imponderables

Wet sand that appears firm but in which things readily sink, often found near rivers or coasts.

To drench in or cover with or as if with water.

Anything that pulls one down or buries one metaphorically

To inundate or burden; overwhelm

Sand easily moved or readily yielding to pressure; especially, a deep mass of loose or moving sand mixed with water, sometimes found at the mouth of a river or along some coasts, and very dangerous, from the difficulty of extricating a person who begins sinking into it.

(Nautical) To fill (a ship or boat) with water to the point of sinking it.

A treacherous situation that tends to entrap and destroy

To become full of water or sink.

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

A piece of wet, spongy land; low ground saturated with water; soft, wet ground which may have a growth of certain kinds of trees, but is unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.

A type of wetland that stretches for vast distances, and is home to many creatures which have adapted specifically to that environment.

(figurative) A place or situation that is foul or where progress is difficult.

To drench or fill with water.

(figurative) To overwhelm; to make too busy, or overrun the capacity of.

(figurative) To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.

Wet, spongy land; soft, low ground saturated with water, but not usually covered with it; marshy ground away from the seashore.

To plunge or sink into a swamp.

To cause (a boat) to become filled with water; to capsize or sink by whelming with water.

Fig.: To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.

To sink or stick in a swamp; figuratively, to become involved in insuperable difficulties.

To become filled with water, as a boat; to founder; to capsize or sink; figuratively, to be ruined; to be wrecked.

Low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog

A situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables;

Drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged;

Fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid;