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
Synonyms
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.
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Recent Examples on the Web
Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2023
Footage posted on Facebook from the village of Palamas in central Greece showed houses almost fully submerged in muddy water and people on the roofs of their homes speaking on cellphones.
—Niki Kitsantonis, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023
Pictures circulated of Center Camp with an inch of muddy standing water.
—Alden Wicker, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2023
But this year – when heavy rain transformed the remote venue into a muddy mess that forced attendees to shelter in place and conserve precious resources – Maltsava wasn’t as prepared.
—Zoe Sottile, CNN, 4 Sep. 2023
There’s a premium on anything with armor protection to keep crew and passengers alive, hard-hitting weapons to knock out enemy armored vehicles and entrenched troops, and the mobility to traverse muddy trenches and forests.
—Sébastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 2 Sep. 2023
Short of mopping everyday, a good dog paw cleaner will save you time spent on cleaning floors, furniture, and everything else susceptible to muddy paw prints.
—Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 1 Sep. 2023
Fred Mitchell started to put on a pair of rain boots, intent on saving a wooden desk in his muddy garage.
—Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
But the dock where his boat typically anchors was snapped in half, and the muddy waters kicked up by the hurricane could take time to clear.
—Jacey Fortin, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023
Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 23 Aug. 2023
More Alabama news Black voters say Alabama is ‘muddying’ the main point of Congressional map case
WBRC names Brittany Dionne as newest anchor
Alabama judge’s son pleads guilty to murder, gets 28 years in prison
Bama Rush’s most expensive OOTD?
—Ike Morgan | Imorgan@al.com, al, 21 Aug. 2023
Rising Treasury yields have muddied the outlook for equity investors.
—WSJ, 15 Aug. 2023
The negatives on goat’s milk became muddied into nutritional circles for various reasons.
—Nina Shapiro, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2023
But star power can cut both ways; the strike is about pay minimums, and protests by elite actors could muddy the message.
—Brooks Barnes, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Aug. 2023
Again, there were disagreements about what was really going on, further muddying the waters as to whether the paradox had been resolved.
—Bhaskar Chakravorti, Fortune, 25 June 2023
And many older kimberlites also emerge around periods of subduction, or continental smash-ups, further muddying the picture, Dr. Janney said.
—Maya Wei-Haas, New York Times, 26 July 2023
Those teams comprise the outer-most tier of cleveland.com’s Threat Con radar, which will dissect a different group of eastern conference teams each day this week based on their readiness to muddy Cleveland’s contention hopes.
—Jimmy Watkins, cleveland, 12 July 2023
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Adjective
In my tent—which, after years of use, was no longer waterproof—pools of muddy water were collecting.
—Matthew Hutson, The New Yorker, 8 Sep. 2023
Footage posted on Facebook from the village of Palamas in central Greece showed houses almost fully submerged in muddy water and people on the roofs of their homes speaking on cellphones.
—Niki Kitsantonis, New York Times, 7 Sep. 2023
Pictures circulated of Center Camp with an inch of muddy standing water.
—Alden Wicker, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2023
But this year – when heavy rain transformed the remote venue into a muddy mess that forced attendees to shelter in place and conserve precious resources – Maltsava wasn’t as prepared.
—Zoe Sottile, CNN, 4 Sep. 2023
There’s a premium on anything with armor protection to keep crew and passengers alive, hard-hitting weapons to knock out enemy armored vehicles and entrenched troops, and the mobility to traverse muddy trenches and forests.
—Sébastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 2 Sep. 2023
Short of mopping everyday, a good dog paw cleaner will save you time spent on cleaning floors, furniture, and everything else susceptible to muddy paw prints.
—Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 1 Sep. 2023
Fred Mitchell started to put on a pair of rain boots, intent on saving a wooden desk in his muddy garage.
—Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
But the dock where his boat typically anchors was snapped in half, and the muddy waters kicked up by the hurricane could take time to clear.
—Jacey Fortin, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023
Verb
The murder allegations, which Brian has denied, muddied the waters in his federal art fraud case, which was bumped from July to October to allow both sides to sort out some issues.
—Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 23 Aug. 2023
More Alabama news Black voters say Alabama is ‘muddying’ the main point of Congressional map case
WBRC names Brittany Dionne as newest anchor
Alabama judge’s son pleads guilty to murder, gets 28 years in prison
Bama Rush’s most expensive OOTD?
—Ike Morgan | Imorgan@al.com, al, 21 Aug. 2023
Rising Treasury yields have muddied the outlook for equity investors.
—WSJ, 15 Aug. 2023
The negatives on goat’s milk became muddied into nutritional circles for various reasons.
—Nina Shapiro, Forbes, 13 Aug. 2023
But star power can cut both ways; the strike is about pay minimums, and protests by elite actors could muddy the message.
—Brooks Barnes, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Aug. 2023
Again, there were disagreements about what was really going on, further muddying the waters as to whether the paradox had been resolved.
—Bhaskar Chakravorti, Fortune, 25 June 2023
And many older kimberlites also emerge around periods of subduction, or continental smash-ups, further muddying the picture, Dr. Janney said.
—Maya Wei-Haas, New York Times, 26 July 2023
Those teams comprise the outer-most tier of cleveland.com’s Threat Con radar, which will dissect a different group of eastern conference teams each day this week based on their readiness to muddy Cleveland’s contention hopes.
—Jimmy Watkins, cleveland, 12 July 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'muddy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Phrases Containing muddy
Articles Related to muddy
Dictionary Entries Near muddy
Cite this Entry
“Muddy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muddy. Accessed 25 Sep. 2023.
Copy Citation
Kids 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
More from Merriam-Webster on muddy
Nglish: Translation of muddy for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of muddy for Arabic Speakers
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