muck

1 of 2

noun

ˈmək 

1

: soft moist farmyard manure

2

: slimy dirt or filth

3

a

: defamatory remarks or writings

b

: rubbish, nonsense

mindless muck

4

a(1)

: dark highly organic soil

(2)

: mire, mud

b

: something resembling muck : gunk

5

: material removed in the process of excavating or mining

muck

2 of 2

verb

mucked; mucking; mucks

transitive verb

1

a

: to clean up

especially : to clear of manure or filth

—usually used with out

b

: to clear of muck

2

: to dress (something, such as soil) with muck

3

: to dirty with or as if with muck : soil

intransitive verb

1

: to move or load muck (as in a mine)

2

a

: to engage in aimless activity

—usually used with about or around

b

: putter, tinker

—usually used with about or around

mucking around with his computer

c

: interfere, meddle

—usually used with about or around

mucker noun

Synonyms

Noun

• dirt
• soil
• sludge
• sewage
• filth
• garbage

Verb

• stain
• dirty
• mess
• soil
• muddy
• blacken
• mire

Examples of muck in a Sentence

Noun

Clean that muck off your shoes.

spattered with muck from the pigpen

Verb

you can't work in the garden and not expect to muck your clothes

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The Iowa native’s canny array of cinematic offerings brought the Film Center out of the muck of the pandemic. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 29 July 2025

Amid the devastation, first responders and volunteers trudge into muck and mud, scramble over debris piles and check emotions to poke and prod and chop and saw in search of still-missing victims. —Suzanne Gamboa, NBC news, 7 July 2025

Verb

There are also sparking car engines, microwave ovens, lightning strikes, GPS signals, reflections off the ionosphere, and even bird poop on the antenna to muck things up. —David Szondy july 27, New Atlas, 27 July 2025

Two lessons: Don’t muck around with the evolutionary sequence; the dinosaurs had their time and can’t adapt to the human epoch. —David Denby, Vulture, 3 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English muk, perhaps from Old English -moc; akin to Old Norse myki dung

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Phrases Containing muck

• high-muck-a-muck
• high-muckety-muck
• make a muck of (something)
• muck about/around
• muck about/around with
• muck-a-muck
• muckety-muck
• muck in
• muck out
• muck up
• mucky-muck

Rhymes for muck

• chuck
• cluck
• duck
• huck
• luck
• pluck
• puck
• ruck
• schmuck
• shuck
• snuck
• struck

Kids Definition

muck

1 of 2 noun

ˈmək

1

: soft moist barnyard manure

2

: dirt sense 1, filth

3

a

: dark rich soil

b

: mud, mire

mucky

ˈmək-ē

adjective

muck

2 of 2 verb

1

: to clean up

especially : to clear of manure or filth

2

: to dress with muck

3

: to dirty with or as if with muck