addle

[ ad-l ]
See synonyms for addle on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with or without object),ad·dled, ad·dling.
  1. to make or become confused.

  2. to make or become rotten, as eggs.

adjective
  1. mentally confused; muddled.

  2. rotten (def. 1): addle eggs.

Origin of addle

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English adel “rotten,” Old English adela “liquid, filth”; cognate with Middle Low German adele “liquid manure”

Other words from addle

  • ad·dled, adjective

Words Nearby addle

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use addle in a sentence

  • To Richard and to Musa there were homage and flattery enough to addle wiser wits than theirs.

    God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis
  • The fact was that there may have been an addle-pated Red among the mill hands of that time, but if there was I had never met him.

    The Iron Puddler | James J. Davis
  • I wonder they had not abandoned it; for a crack of light into a wren's nest would certainly addle the eggs.

    Roof and Meadow | Dallas Lore Sharp
  • You know he has nothing to recommend him but money and a ridiculous roll of addle-headed predecessors; now, don't you?

    Great Expectations | Charles Dickens
  • But says I to my eye, addle Wildenheim has two much spirit of her own to covet her neighbour's goods.

    Manners, Vol 2 of 3 | Frances Brooke

British Dictionary definitions for addle (1 of 2)

addle1

/ (ˈædəl) /


verb
  1. to make or become confused or muddled

  2. to make or become rotten

adjective
  1. (in combination) indicating a confused or muddled state: addle-brained; addle-pated

Origin of addle

1
C18: (vb), back formation from addled, from c13 addle rotten, from Old English adela filth; related to dialect German Addel liquid manure

British Dictionary definitions for addle (2 of 2)

addle2

/ (ˈædəl) /


verb
  1. Northern English dialect to earn (money or one's living)

Origin of addle

2
C13: addlen, from Old Norse öthlask to gain possession of property, from ōthal property

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012