muddy

[muhd-ee]

adjective

muddier, muddiest 

1. abounding in or covered with mud.

2. not clear or pure.

   muddy colors.

3. cloudy with sediment.

   muddy coffee.

4. dull, as the complexion.

5. not clear mentally.

6. obscure or vague, as thought, expression, or literary style.

7. Horse Racing.,  denoting the condition of a track after a heavy, continuous rainfall has ceased and been completely absorbed into the surface, leaving it the consistency of thick mud.

verb (used with object)

muddied, muddying 

1. to make muddy; soil with mud.

2. to make turbid.

3. to cause to be confused or obscure.

verb (used without object)

muddied, muddying 

1. to become muddy.

muddy

/ ˈmʌdɪ /

adjective

1. covered or filled with mud

2. not clear or bright

   muddy colours

3. cloudy

   a muddy liquid

4. (esp of thoughts) confused or vague

verb

1. to become or cause to become muddy

Other Word Forms

• muddily adverb
• muddiness noun
• unmuddied adjective
• unmuddy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of muddy¹

First recorded in 1375–1425, muddy is from the late Middle English word muddi. See mud, -y ¹

Example Sentences

Ms. Friar was light on the details last week, and after the Journal event she backtracked, saying her use of the word “backstop” had “muddied” things.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Moments later, muddy water surged up the stairs after him.

Read more on Literature

By muddying the waters of justice, he has begun to normalize an indifference to impropriety that looks, from a distance, a lot like graft.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Among a dozen, we meet two pilgrims from the States, boots barely muddied, walking sticks barely warmed.

Read more on Salon

If nature had been left to take its course, most of The Netherlands would be a muddy swamp, not the European Union's fifth-largest economy.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• dirty 
• dull 
• filthy 
• flat 
• gloomy 
• marshy 
• sloppy 
• sodden 
• soggy 
• swampy