muddle

[muhd-l]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR muddle ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), mud·dled, mud·dling.

to mix up in a confused or bungling manner; jumble.

to cause to become mentally confused.

to cause to become confused or stupid with or as if with an intoxicating drink.

to make muddy or turbid, as water.

to mix or stir (a cocktail, chocolate, etc.).

Ceramics. to smooth (clay) by rubbing it on glass.

verb (used without object), mud·dled, mud·dling.

to behave, proceed, or think in a confused or aimless fashion or with an air of improvisation: Some people just muddle along, waiting for their big break.

noun

the state or condition of being muddled, especially a confused mental state.

a confused, disordered, or embarrassing condition; mess.

Verb Phrases

muddle through, to achieve a certain degree of success but without much skill, polish, experience, or direction: None of us knew much about staging a variety show, so we just had to muddle through.

Nearby words

Origin of muddle

1540–50; mud + -le; cognate with Middle Dutch moddelen to muddy

SYNONYMS FOR muddle

1. confuse, botch, bungle, spoil.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR muddle ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsmud·dled·ness, mud·dle·ment, nounmud·dling·ly, adverbpre·mud·dle, noun, verb (used with object), pre·mud·dled, pre·mud·dling.un·mud·dled, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for muddle

Meanwhile, the muddle in Malaysia makes it far harder for the searchers to know where to look.
The Botched Hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370|Clive Irving|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That common denominator gets lost in the muddle, sometimes, when we talk about fashion.
Tilda Swinton and Oliver Saillard Perform the Creation of Fashion in ‘Eternity Dress’|Sarah Moroz|November 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Governments manage to muddle through much more often than you think they possibly can.
Euro Crisis: Reheated|Megan McArdle|February 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST
As it is, it looks like Israel is set to continue to muddle along on its way to its own ruin.
Yair Lapid Is No Cause For Optimism|Emily L. Hauser|January 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST

For the most part, however, he gives every sign of trying to muddle along.
How Obama Got Fierce on Foreign Policy: James Mann’s 'The Obamians'|Jacob Heilbrunn|June 15, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Then tell Helen she doesn't have to marry, that, with the best intentions, the Church has made a muddle of monogamy.
Why Marry?|Jesse Lynch Williams
In 1872 he would speak pathetically of his “Crimean muddle,” perplexed, as he well might be, by the intricacies of Inkerman.
A. W. Kinglake|W. Tuckwell
It seems to me Providence would show more sense not to muddle things up so in the first place.
Chicken Little Jane on the Big John|Lily Munsell Ritchie
It was not much, but sufficient to muddle his brain, and to make him sluggish and drowsy for a time.
Hours of Exercise in the Alps|John Tyndall
Why, look around and see the muddle and mess most people make of the contract.
Married Life|May Edginton

British Dictionary definitions for muddle

muddle

verb (tr)

(often foll by up) to mix up (objects, items, etc); jumble

to confuse

to make (water) muddy or turbulent

US to mix or stir (alcoholic drinks, etc)

noun

a state of physical or mental confusion

Derived Forms

muddled, adjectivemuddledness or muddlement, nounmuddling, adjective, nounmuddlingly, adverb

muddly, adjective

Word Origin for muddle

C16: perhaps from Middle Dutch moddelen to make muddy

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

Word Origin and History for muddle

muddle

1590s, "destroy the clarity of" (a transferred sense); literal sense ("to bathe in mud") is from c.1600; perhaps frequentative formation from mud, or from Dutch moddelen "to make (water) muddy," from the same Proto-Germanic source. Sense of "to make muddy" is from 1670s; that of "make confused" first recorded 1680s. Meaning "to bungle" is from 1885. Related: Muddled; muddling.

muddle

1818, from muddle (v.).

muddle

verb (used with object), mud·dled, mud·dling.

verb (used without object), mud·dled, mud·dling.

noun

Verb Phrases

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of muddle

Examples from the Web for muddle

muddle

verb (tr)

noun

Word Origin for muddle

muddle

muddle