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muddled

[muhd-l]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object)

to mix up in a confused or bungling manner; jumble.

to cause to become mentally confused.

to cause to become confused or stupid with or as if with an intoxicating drink.

to make muddy or turbid, as water.

to mix or stir (a cocktail, chocolate, etc.).

EXPAND

Ceramics. to smooth (clay) by rubbing it on glass.

COLLAPSE

verb (used without object)

to behave, proceed, or think in a confused or aimless fashion or with an air of improvisation: Some people just muddle along, waiting for their big break.

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Muddled is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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noun

the state or condition of being muddled, especially a confused mental state.

a confused, disordered, or embarrassing condition; mess.

Verb phrase

10.

muddle through, to achieve a certain degree of success but without much skill, polish, experience, or direction: None of us knew much about staging a variety show, so we just had to muddle through.

Origin:
1540–50; mud + -le; cognate with Middle Dutch moddelen to muddy

Related forms

mud·dled·ness, mud·dle·ment, noun

mud·dling·ly, adverb

pre·mud·dle, noun, verb (used with object), -dled, -dling.

un·mud·dled, adjective

Synonyms
1. confuse, botch, bungle, spoil.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To muddled

Example Sentences

First of a three-part series on muddled federal wetland regulations.

Nevertheless, the message may be already getting muddled.

Official denials so far have been muddled and unconvincing.

EXPAND

First of a three-part series on muddled federal wetland regulations.

Nevertheless, the message may be already getting muddled.

Official denials so far have been muddled and unconvincing.

Face it, humans will make a muddled mess of species segregation regardless of laws and policy rehdamenta.

The conventional academic hierarchies are quite muddled in the digital humanities.

The result was a partial, muddled and self-contradictory plan, leading eventually to this week's debacle.

Maybe the best mojito that you've ever had, perfectly muddled with fresh mint.

But the outbreak of anger about bankers' bonuses is muddled and comes too late.

Instead they have muddled along, wandering down many a dead end in the process.

Philippine politics have degenerated into a protracted feud over the rights and wrongs of this muddled transfer of power.

They were made by honest men and women with the best of muddled intentions.

Probably that psychiatry isn't such a muddled exercise or that there might be some kind of progress.

The public discussion of our empirical strategy and results has been somewhat muddled.

Mostly, however, the reform deals with the symptoms of muddled incentives: high premiums and poor access.

Cynics note that the muddled customs regime in the breakaway region is lucrative for outsiders and insiders alike.

Nothing sums up these muddled priorities so much as water policy.

Politicians tend to give muddled answers to these conundrums probably because people are muddled.

To clear up your muddled phrasing, marriage is too ancient and sacred to condone gays' abuse of it by marrying each other.

It's not difficult to understand why science has a rough time in today's world of muddled thinking.

Later, he muddled a few baseball jokes as well, and at one point he squinted and admitted he couldn't read his own slides.

As the search for the right college continued, the more muddled my mind became.

Okay, already my symbolism has become muddled and worn, so let me move expediently along.

Sugie's cooking, however, seems to have gotten muddled in the rarefied air.

Denmark's sluggish response was a textbook case of muddled policy.

Audio quality is adequate in the low range but gets muddled in the mids.

When perspective gets lost, everything becomes muddled and tainted".

Sit outside that zone and you are likely to see a set of muddled images.

In fact, they are usually muddled and complicated, subject to different shadings and interpretations.

Here was a game where there were no characters, no shooting, no confusing story lines or muddled plots.

Furthermore, it is vexingly muddled with intrigues of a complicated.

He says the new command's defensive mission is muddled and duplicative:.

But the data were too muddled for clear conclusions.

She too has been attacked for giving muddled advice about anti-retroviral drugs.

Infosys muddled the transfer of power among its founders.

The economy muddled on despite the housing bust for two.

As such, this part of the disaster is muddled as to the negligience issue.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

muddle (ˈmʌd^əl)

—vb
1.	(often foll by up) to mix up (objects, items, etc); jumble
2.	to confuse
3.	to make (water) muddy or turbulent
4.	(US) to mix or stir (alcoholic drinks, etc)

—n
5.	a state of physical or mental confusion

[C16: perhaps from Middle Dutch moddelen to make muddy]

'muddled

—*adj*

'muddledness

—n

'muddlement

—n

'muddling

—*adj*, —n

'muddlingly

—*adv*

'muddly

—*adj*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

muddle

1590s, perhaps frequentative of mud (q.v.), or from Du. moddelen "to make (water) muddy," from the same P.Gmc. source. Sense of "make confused" first recorded 1680s. Related: Muddled; muddling.

Slang Dictionary

muddled (up) definition

mod.
alcohol intoxicated. : I've had a little too much muddler, I think. Anyway, I'm muddled.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

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disorganized foggy guddle incoherent mess

Matching Quote

"Strong currents drag many stones and bushes along with them, strong intellects many dense and muddled minds."

-Friedrich Nietzsche

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