as in confusing
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1
as in baffling
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty
a car shopper thoroughly muddled by too much well-meaning advice
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disrupting
to undo the proper order or arrangement of
some mischievous brat had muddled the household accounts
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of muddling
Shirley Halperin, Rolling Stone, 19 Sep. 2025
With his far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, sitting in the front row, Netanyahu took the stage, looking a little peeved, and berated the event’s organizers for muddling his slide show.
—Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
His recipe calls for muddling sweet Sun Gold tomatoes and fresh basil, plus a smidge of salt and sugar until juicy; then stirring in gin, vermouth, and ice until well-chilled.
—The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 5 Sep. 2025
That’s muddling the outlook for rate cuts.
—Bryan Mena, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2025
Gently muddling the mint and lime and not pulverizing them preserves their flavor and keeps the drink crisp rather than bitter.
—Aly Walansky, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2025
The case sparked numerous videos by amatuer investigators posting on Youtube and Facebook, muddling up the tip line for information.
—Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 14 Aug. 2025
Verb
But also muddling standard operating procedures is the fact that, according to the insider, ABC doesn’t have a dedicated late-night executive.
—Shirley Halperin, Rolling Stone, 19 Sep. 2025
With his far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, sitting in the front row, Netanyahu took the stage, looking a little peeved, and berated the event’s organizers for muddling his slide show.
—Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
His recipe calls for muddling sweet Sun Gold tomatoes and fresh basil, plus a smidge of salt and sugar until juicy; then stirring in gin, vermouth, and ice until well-chilled.
—The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 5 Sep. 2025
That’s muddling the outlook for rate cuts.
—Bryan Mena, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2025
Gently muddling the mint and lime and not pulverizing them preserves their flavor and keeps the drink crisp rather than bitter.
—Aly Walansky, Southern Living, 18 Aug. 2025
The case sparked numerous videos by amatuer investigators posting on Youtube and Facebook, muddling up the tip line for information.
—Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muddling
Adjective
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As an avalanche and dead bodies ratchet up the suspense, Zach must lean on his mother’s wisdom to fight for his life while deciphering a confusing undercurrent of danger, violence and betrayal among the survivors.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Yeah, this is pretty confusing on the surface.—
Jesse Newell,
New York Times,
30 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The pilot of a private jet reportedly made an eerie discovery while flying thousands of feet over Rhode Island, marking the latest in unexplained encounters baffling both experts and civilians alike.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
22 Dec. 2025
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From financial wipeouts to baffling misreads of beloved source material, some of Hollywood’s most notorious flops began as video games.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
19 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Prosecutors have accused them of civil rights violations for disrupting the Cities Church service.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
31 Jan. 2026
-
Wild weather is disrupting daily life — impacting homes, schools, and roadways.—
Terell Bailey,
CBS News,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The Eagles were a confounding defending champion throughout the regular season.—
Jeff Howe,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2026
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What is the most confounding and terrible, however, is Gretchen’s assertion that Slade, the anti-Viagra, doesn’t get involved with the women on his own accord, but only engages because the women always talk about him.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
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And aren’t our real-life romantic complications bewildering enough?—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
4 Sep. 2025
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Its ginormous investments in higher-value, tech-heavy sectors from smartphones to autos to semiconductors to biotechnology are disrupting the global landscape at bewildering speed.—
William Pesek,
Forbes.com,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Even when the locals lost faith, Villa remained focused, forever shuffling side to side and defending with the same urgency.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
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Go on a street food tour Street food tours are great things to do in Sicily and a fabulous alternative to hours of shuffling through museums.—
Rosalyn Wikeley,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The movie is hilarious, fun, disturbing, perplexing, exuberant, exhausting.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
12 Dec. 2025
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The canon can already be described as a bewildering artistic menagerie, including a perplexing assessment of misandrism, body horror by Brian Yuzna, killer toys from the ’90s, and more.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
11 Dec. 2025
Verb
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This Upper Paleolithic burial even became famous, though puzzling to researchers, because the unusual skeletal remains were even disfigured.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
31 Jan. 2026
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But in recent years, Betelgeuse has thrown astronomers a few puzzling curveballs that have required serious detective work to solve.—
Ashley Strickland,
CNN Money,
20 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Muddling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muddling. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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