muddy the waters
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Confuse the issue, as in Bringing up one irrelevant fact after another, he succeeded in muddying the waters. This metaphoric expression, alluding to making a pond or stream turbid by stirring up mud from the bottom, was first recorded in 1837.
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Words nearby muddy the waters
muddlehead, muddleheaded, muddler, muddle through, muddy, muddy the waters, mud eel, Mudéjar, mudeye, mudfat, mud fever
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.