muddle
/ˈmʌd(ə)l
/verb [with object]
1Bring into a disordered or confusing state: they were muddling up the cards...
- Getting into that whole cluster would become very confusing quickly, since we've got overlapping issues, aside from Vietnam muddling up the mix.
- I had even put in soft lenses, which always hurt so badly, so that I didn't have to have glasses muddling up my face.
- The two teams certainly entered into the seasonal spirit, if a little confusion muddled the role-playing.
Synonyms
confuse, mix up, jumble, jumble up, disarrange, disorganize, disorder, disturb, throw into disorder, get into a tangle, scramble, mess up
jumbled, in a jumble, in a muddle, in a mess, chaotic, in disorder, in disarray, topsy-turvy, disorganized, disordered, disorderly, out of place, out of order, mixed up, upside-down, at sixes and sevens, untidy, messy, scrambled, tangled
informal higgledy-piggledy
1.1Confuse (a person or their thoughts): Paul was hopelessly muddled by the rates of exchange...
- When I made my witness statement I was muddled in the accounts which I gave in paragraph 6 and paragraph 8.
- I'm just following my somewhat muddled thoughts where they take me.
- Liberals gravitate toward the gray to muddy the waters, to muddle people's thinking.
Synonyms
bewilder, confuse, bemuse, perplex, puzzle, baffle, nonplus, mystify, confound, disorientate, disorient, befuddle, daze, addle
confused, in a state of confusion, bewildered, bemused, perplexed, disorientated, disoriented, at sea, in a muddle, befuddled, dazed
informal discombobulated
Canadian & Australian/New Zealand informal bushed
incoherent, confused, muddle-headed, woolly, jumbled, disjointed
1.2 [no object, with adverbial] Busy oneself in an aimless or ineffective way: he was muddling about in the kitchen...
- After muddling around for a few days, he comes out fully in favor of the government's position and vows to endorse whatever the government proposes in relation to boat people.
- For a number of years I've been muddling in the mire of trying to figure out who and what I am in relation to church, denomination, God etc.
- I'm just muddling around here like an ant in a potplant, not always realizing there are larger things out there than my little world.
2Mix (a drink) or stir (an ingredient) into a drink.Place the mint, tangerine, lime juice and syrup in a shaker tin, muddle all ingredients together....
- Requiring your bartenders to cut the lemons and muddle them in front of the customer each time a drink is ordered is too arduous.
- In a mixing glass, moderately muddle syrup, bitters, mint, orange and lime together.
noun [usually in singular]
1An untidy and disorganized state or collection: the finances were in a muddle [mass noun]: she was able to cut through confusion and muddle...
- Even if, like me, you think the polls are often in a muddle, they do tell a consistent story on economic management.
- She dares us to dress down, to strip ourselves of our illusions and to acknowledge that, for most of the time, we live life in a muddle and ‘that every hour contains at least a moment of bewilderment or worse’.
- He says: ‘Ordinary events got Jennings in a muddle and we can identify with these.’
1.1A mistake arising from or resulting in confusion: a bureaucratic muddle...
- Despite the muddles of his campaign, his message won him nearly 49% of the votes.
- Here in India, especially in relatively small cities like Dehra Doon, it feels like half magic a lot of the time and the only way to live through the muddles is to be determined to find them funny.
- The four great battles of Cassino brought to a head all the muddles and contradictions of the Italian campaign.
Synonyms
bungle, mix-up, misunderstanding, mistake
informal hash, foul-up, screw-up
British informal car crash
North American informal snafu
vulgar slang fuck-up
British vulgar slang balls-up
Phrasal verbs
muddle through (or along)
muddle something up
Derivatives
muddling
- At first blissfully unaware of the looming nuclear catastrophe, their muddling path towards doom is in equal parts pathetic, frightening and funny.
- Out has gone the old, muddling approach, in has come good capital management methods, a tougher approach to diversification, and a commitment to boost returns.
- Great achievements don't spring into existence fully fledged with greatness; they grow out of life's mundane, muddling debates, and out of feats of patience.
muddlingly
- And too many parents are left muddlingly only among those who express sympathy and criticism, and don't help them along the road of seeing the gifts.
- ‘It's symbolic in that each voice is different, you know,’ he says, muddlingly.
- Despite the eyelocks and handholds and sunsets and stargazing, her relationship with V is muddlingly platonic.
muddly
- But, the reason why it's a muddly subject is because they're being thick and pointless on purpose!
- He's the most muddly old thing and incidentally never finishes a sentence.
- The Economist gushed, ‘The muddly, statist, sort-of-socialist Egypt of old has become the very model of a modern emerging market.’
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'wallow in mud'): perhaps from Middle Dutch moddelen, frequentative of modden 'dabble in mud'; compare with mud. The sense 'confuse' was initially associated with alcoholic drink (late 17th century), giving rise to 'busy oneself in a confused way' and 'jumble up' (mid 19th century).