murky

adjective

ˈmər-kē 

murkier; murkiest

1

: characterized by a heavy dimness or obscurity caused by or like that caused by overhanging fog or smoke

the murky bottom of the lake

2

: characterized by thickness and heaviness of air : foggy, misty

Handicapped by my seasickness and by the murky skies, I hardly ever could make my star sights work.

—Robert Shenk

3

: darkly vague or obscure

murky official rhetoric

He offered a murky explanation.

murkily

ˈmər-kə-lē 

adverb

murkiness

ˈmər-kē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms of murky

• darkened
• dark

Examples of murky in a Sentence

She peered into one of the church's murky chapels.

a politician with a murky past

Recent Examples on the Web

The details remain murky, but the investment fund would be financed privately and not by US taxpayers, according to the administration. — David Goldman, CNN Money, 26 June 2026

Content providers and hyperscalers like Google and Meta own approximately 60 of the world’s major subsea cables, and the law is murky on their liability for damage and their state’s responsibilities to protect them from damage by adversary actors. — Jill Goldenziel, Forbes.com, 26 June 2026

So why are all of them rendered in variations of murky brown? — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 26 June 2026

Pheromone perfume has flooded social media feeds with bold claims about boosting attraction, but the science behind these scented sprays is murkier than the marketing suggests. — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing murky

• murky waters

Rhymes for murky

• jerky
• perky
• quirky
• turki

Kids Definition

murky

adjective

ˈmər-kē 

murkier; murkiest

1

: very dark or gloomy

2

: foggy sense 1, misty

3

: difficult to understand

a murky reply designed to confuse

murkiness noun