muskeg

noun

mus·​keg ˈmə-ˌskeg How to pronounce muskeg (audio)
-ˌskāg
1
: bog
especially : a sphagnum bog of northern North America often with tussocks
2
: a usually thick deposit of partially decayed vegetable matter of wet boreal regions

Examples of muskeg in a Sentence

local farmers can make extra money by digging peat out of the nearby muskeg
Recent Examples on the Web The lakes are two skinny networks of water, one above the other, separated by two kilometres of muskeg. Hazlitt, 20 Dec. 2022 Some of those roads, homes, and business districts crossed what had once been impassable, swampy muskeg. David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Nov. 2022 Any Alaskan who has just attempted to cross muskeg on foot will sympathize with the plight of the salvage crews, who had to remove a fighter plane partially buried in knee-deep mud and transport it to the island’s coast for pickup. David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 10 July 2022 The terrain gives way to a mixture of forest, muskeg and drylands, where the sandy soil rises to the surface. NBC News, 22 Nov. 2021 That muskeg excludes the rainforest Sitka spruce and hemlock that dominate most of this plain beneath high mountains. Ned Rozell, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Aug. 2021 Much of the undeveloped land in Tongass is rock, ice or muskeg, a type of cold-climate swamp. Theresa MacHemer, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Oct. 2020 After a lightning strike sparked it on June 21, that fire had consumed spruce and muskeg over a swath the size of New York City. Anchorage Daily News, 31 Aug. 2019 Ruhle lives in an Anchorage neighborhood on Elmore Road and East 66th Avenue where the city butts up against the muskeg and forest of the 730-acre Bureau of Land Management Campbell Tract. Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Nov. 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'muskeg.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Cree maske·k

First Known Use

1806, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of muskeg was in 1806

Dictionary Entries Near muskeg

Cite this Entry

“Muskeg.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muskeg. Accessed 4 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

muskeg

noun
mus·​keg ˈməs-ˌkeg How to pronounce muskeg (audio)
: bog entry 1
especially : a bog of northern North America that is composed of many layers of half-decayed plants and especially sphagnum
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