Link Centre Dictionary

muddle

UK/ˈmʌdl̩/ US/ˈmʌd(ə)l/ uncommon archaic
noun (2) verb (2)

noun

1.
2.

informal terms for a difficult situation

  • “he got into a terrible fix”
  • “he made a muddle of his marriage”
Synonyms

verb

1.

make into a puddle

  • “puddled mire”
Synonyms
2.

mix up or confuse

  • “He muddled the issues”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English modelen (attested in present participle modeland (“wallowing”)), from Middle Dutch moddelen (“to make muddy”), from modde, mod (“mud”) (Modern Dutch modder). By surface analysis, mud + -le. Compare German Kuddelmuddel.

Phrases

  • muddle along
  • muddle on
  • muddle the waters
  • muddle through
  • muddle up

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.