muddled
Americanadjective
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mixed up, confused, or disordered.
The rejection is based on faulty underlying assumptions and muddled thinking.
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muddy, clouded, or obscured; murky.
After a long winter season, your pool is most likely a tub of muddled water with foliage and twigs floating about.
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(of an ingredient) mixed, crushed, or mashed into a drink, especially with a muddler.
The freshly muddled kiwi adds an unexpected flavor to this handmade cocktail.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of muddled
Explanation
Muddled things are all mixed-up and confused. Your mind might feel muddled when you first wake up from a long nap. Your school's football quarterback might get muddled and throw the ball the wrong way. Or, your muddled French teacher could make the class feel muddled too if she accidentally starts speaking German in class. The verb muddle, "to make confused or disordered," originally meant "destroy the clarity of," from its literal meaning, "to bathe in mud."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rising competition and a cautious consumer backdrop have suppressed sales, analysts say, and frequent management changes have muddled the strategy.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 8, 2026
Hirokazu Kore-eda directs this muddled film about grieving parents who adopt an android copy of their dead son.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Albania's land rights issue stems from its communist past that banned individual land ownership, further muddled by customs that date back to the Ottoman era.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
The mayoral hopeful didn’t articulate a platform that radically departed from Bass’, and voter antipathy to her muddled messaging showed: she ended the night in third place.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
The peace would start at the top of his muddled brain and seep down through his tired and tensed-up body.
From "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
