muddier; muddiest
1
: morally impure : base
2
a
: full of or covered with mud
b
: characteristic or suggestive of mud
a muddy flavor
muddy colors
c
: turbid with sediment
muddied; muddying
1
: confuse
2
: to soil or stain with or as if with mud
3
: to make turbid
4
: to make cloudy or dull
Examples of muddy in a Sentence
Adjective
please do not walk in the house with muddy boots on, as you will get the carpet dirty
whether muddy or not, water taken from lakes and streams should be boiled by campers
Verb
The flooding muddied the roads.
She muddied the color by adding some brown.
muddying the line between fact and fiction
The debate further muddied the issues.
Recent Examples on the Web
John Otis, NPR, 7 Sep. 2025
In 1943, when the Mississippi tore away from its banks and charted a fierce and muddy course across America’s central farmlands, Gerard’s grandfather, Harold Gerard, had already fled the waters once.
—Julia Rendleman, ProPublica, 5 Sep. 2025
Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
The third act could be described as structurally curious, as Mackenzie and Hopkins introduce some late-in-the-game flashbacks that, while grippingly shot, derail the story and muddy the waters of who we’re supposed to be rooting for.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for muddy
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Adjective
On a recent morning, sweaty workers unloaded cargo boats by hand, carrying crates of beer, sacks of rice, and bags of flour on their shoulders 100 yards up the muddy riverbank to trucks waiting on the wharf.
—John Otis, NPR, 7 Sep. 2025
In 1943, when the Mississippi tore away from its banks and charted a fierce and muddy course across America’s central farmlands, Gerard’s grandfather, Harold Gerard, had already fled the waters once.
—Julia Rendleman, ProPublica, 5 Sep. 2025
Verb
Crossbreeding in captivity had muddied the waters.
—Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Sep. 2025
The third act could be described as structurally curious, as Mackenzie and Hopkins introduce some late-in-the-game flashbacks that, while grippingly shot, derail the story and muddy the waters of who we’re supposed to be rooting for.
—Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for muddy
Cite this Entry
“Muddy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muddy. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
muddy
2 of 2 verb
muddied; muddying
1
: to soil or stain with or as if with mud
2
: to make cloudy or dull
3
: to become or cause to become confused
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