muddy 1 of 2

adjective

ˈmə-dē How to pronounce muddy (audio)
Definition of muddynext
1
as in mucky
full of or covered with soft wet earth please do not walk in the house with muddy boots on, as you will get the carpet dirty

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in turbid
having visible particles in liquid suspension whether muddy or not, water taken from lakes and streams should be boiled by campers

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in dusty
not clean we were all muddy after playing outside

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

muddy

2 of 2

verb

1
as in to confuse
to throw into a state of mental uncertainty my mind had been thoroughly muddied by the long hours of exacting work

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to blur
to make (something) unclear to the understanding that argument is irrelevant and will just muddy the issue we're trying to resolve

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in to dirty
to make dirty forgot to take off our shoes and accidentally muddied the kitchen floor

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of muddy
Adjective
But the terrain is treacherous with muddy roads and slippery rocks. — Paula Wethington, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 In recent years, Canyon has searched for people amid wildfire ash, along steep muddy banks after floods, and beneath homes destroyed by tornadoes. — Kyle Melnick, Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2026
Verb
And Treasury’s bond-market intervention might have muddied market signals, so Warsh can credibly argue for time. — Liz Rappaport, semafor.com, 8 Sep. 2026 The confusion could muddy the narrative of having the best models in the market that OpenAI would no doubt like to present ahead of a possible 2027 IPO. — Emily Forlini, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for muddy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muddy
  1. mucky
  2. turbid
  3. dusty
  4. confuse
  5. blur
  6. dirty
  7. slimy
  8. murky
Adjective
  • Over the past 20 years, Davis Gulch, a canyon off the Escalante River leading into Lake Powell, has gone from fully inundated with water to a mucky mudscape.
    — Story Hinckley, Christian Science Monitor, 5 Oct. 2026
  • And yet the nugget of knowledge from his vast experience of traversing 120 yards (110 metres) via two 60-yard lengths in a trench – dug 4ft deep and 3ft wide in a Welsh field – filled with murky, mucky river water is not a tip about technique.
    — Rob Tanner, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of mucky
Adjective
  • But his script, co-written with regular collaborator Jack Coulter, is less impressive, welding together story scraps from other, better films to rather turbid, uninvolving effect.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Since then, shifting groundwater and agricultural activity nearby have made the water increasingly turbid.
    — Sarah Evans, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
Definition of turbid
Adjective
  • The state was apportioned a bare 300,000 acre-feet a year in 1928, when Las Vegas was merely a dusty outpost miles from the Hoover Dam construction site.
    — Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • On July 2, 2025, a burst with energy equivalent to 1,000 suns blazing for 10 billion years lit up Fermi’s detectors, heading from a dusty galaxy about eight billion light-years from Earth.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of dusty
Verb
  • But the other Sullivan has said the decision to run was his own and denied his candidacy was intended to confuse voters or siphon votes in Republican Sullivan's tight race against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
    — Willem Marx, NPR, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Christina Applegate’s recent revelation that she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis is raising questions about how the disease can be confused with other conditions even after years of treatment.
    — Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of confuse
Verb
  • Scientists have been able to measure quantum effects in larger and more complex systems and over great distances, blurring the line once thought to separate the scale of observer and observed.
    — Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • The distinction between entertainment platforms and traditional media is becoming increasingly blurred.
    — Victoria Usher, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of blur
Verb
  • To even wade into the arguments might dirty your hands, and mind.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Satisfy your lasagna craving without dirtying up a pile of dishes.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 9 July 2026
Definition of dirty
Adjective
  • This year, correspondent Luke Burbank attended the 65th annual competition, in which contestants were of a particularly slimy variety.
    — David Morgan, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The tight hiding places of Kaitlyn Dever’s rambling house seem almost roomy compared with being stuck in the slimy gut of a sperm whale.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of slimy
Adjective
  • Of course, some situations are murkier than a stranger breezing past the entire queue.
    — Angela Haupt, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
  • The legal position of the Hope Florida grand jury report, already widely reported but also expunged by an appellate court, grew murkier Tuesday amid a multi-pronged effort to prohibit any publication of the document.
    — CBS Miami Team, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of murky

Browse Nearby Words

muddling
muddy
muddying
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Muddy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muddy. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of disparate

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All