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.
Recent Examples on the Web
Bill Bowden, arkansasonline.com, 7 Apr. 2024
As well as the grouse shoots, picnics and muddy dog walks that keep members of the family entertained during the long summer days, the estate has also been a place of solace where the royals can enjoy time out of the limelight.
—Billy Stockwell, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
The water slowly moved back to its original lakebed, but with the winds speeding up evaporation, Lake Manly was left shallower and muddier than before.
—Katherine Itoh, NBC News, 8 Mar. 2024
As the fire scorched the area, all these materials sunk into the muddy river water below.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Mar. 2024
Voyeuristic long lenses peer in on their meetings, but the frame’s visual contrast is set so low that these politicians often appear muddy and gray.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024
Jimmy Doom was soaked and muddy after killing zombies all day in a driving rain.
—Detroit Free Press, 10 Mar. 2024
The city added portable toilets, and, in late January, Raine and a slew of volunteers built eight sturdy wilderness tents in the parking lot, off the muddy ground.
—Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024
Setting The Searcher and The Hunter far from Dublin, out among the boggy wilds and muddy farms of Ireland’s west coast, pulls at a different aspect of the country’s economic decline.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2024
The wet conditions also muddied plans for thousands of Easter holiday-makers, canceling or pushing off popular egg hunts in Pasadena, Santa Anita Park and Garden Grove.
—Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2024
And the Kremlin’s narrative was further muddied by the thousands of people who turned out for Navalny’s funeral, or lined up for days to pay their respects at his grave despite warnings from authorities.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 14 Mar. 2024
But the message was muddied by what appeared to be Greene’s cynical repurposing of a plea used by those who were marching for racial justice and police reform in the summer of 2020.
—Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024
Treatment for chronic lung diseases can also muddy vaccine response.
—Nick Blackmer, Verywell Health, 30 Nov. 2023
To further muddy the waters, there’s also broccoli rabe (or raab), otherwise known as rapini.
—Becky Krystal, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024
Yet stormy waters, muddied by low box office numbers, writer strikes, and the company’s heavy debt load could still make this a turbulent year.
—Sunny Nagpaul, Fortune, 29 Feb. 2024
Those plot mechanics wind up muddying the waters too much, even if they’re meant to underscore how wartime traumas can be extremely hard to shake off — to the point that everyone becomes some kind of victim.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
Adjective
Their fossilized remains are embedded in the Fayetteville Shale, which was once a muddy sea floor.
—Bill Bowden, arkansasonline.com, 7 Apr. 2024
As well as the grouse shoots, picnics and muddy dog walks that keep members of the family entertained during the long summer days, the estate has also been a place of solace where the royals can enjoy time out of the limelight.
—Billy Stockwell, CNN, 5 Apr. 2024
The water slowly moved back to its original lakebed, but with the winds speeding up evaporation, Lake Manly was left shallower and muddier than before.
—Katherine Itoh, NBC News, 8 Mar. 2024
As the fire scorched the area, all these materials sunk into the muddy river water below.
—Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Mar. 2024
Voyeuristic long lenses peer in on their meetings, but the frame’s visual contrast is set so low that these politicians often appear muddy and gray.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024
Jimmy Doom was soaked and muddy after killing zombies all day in a driving rain.
—Detroit Free Press, 10 Mar. 2024
The city added portable toilets, and, in late January, Raine and a slew of volunteers built eight sturdy wilderness tents in the parking lot, off the muddy ground.
—Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2024
Setting The Searcher and The Hunter far from Dublin, out among the boggy wilds and muddy farms of Ireland’s west coast, pulls at a different aspect of the country’s economic decline.
—Hillary Kelly, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2024
Verb
But that commentary and homage have been muddied by reactions to the flag’s symbolism, exemplifying the trouble of being as big as Beyoncé.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2024
The wet conditions also muddied plans for thousands of Easter holiday-makers, canceling or pushing off popular egg hunts in Pasadena, Santa Anita Park and Garden Grove.
—Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2024
And the Kremlin’s narrative was further muddied by the thousands of people who turned out for Navalny’s funeral, or lined up for days to pay their respects at his grave despite warnings from authorities.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 14 Mar. 2024
But the message was muddied by what appeared to be Greene’s cynical repurposing of a plea used by those who were marching for racial justice and police reform in the summer of 2020.
—Robin Givhan, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024
Treatment for chronic lung diseases can also muddy vaccine response.
—Nick Blackmer, Verywell Health, 30 Nov. 2023
To further muddy the waters, there’s also broccoli rabe (or raab), otherwise known as rapini.
—Becky Krystal, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024
Yet stormy waters, muddied by low box office numbers, writer strikes, and the company’s heavy debt load could still make this a turbulent year.
—Sunny Nagpaul, Fortune, 29 Feb. 2024
Those plot mechanics wind up muddying the waters too much, even if they’re meant to underscore how wartime traumas can be extremely hard to shake off — to the point that everyone becomes some kind of victim.
—Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Feb. 2024
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.
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Cite this Entry
“Muddy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muddy. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids 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
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