Synonyms for muddy
- adjective
- verb
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Dull — not clear. Of a colour, not bright, dirty, dull
dull, dingy, soiled, thick, unclean, impure, dim, leaden, faint, lackluster US, lack-lustre UK, lacklustre UK, wan, filthy, grubby, gloomy
2. Mucky
mucky informal, swampy, boggy, sloppy, marshy, soggy, waterlogged, squashy, miry, quaggy, sloughy
3. Turbid
turbid, murky, foggy, opaque, cloudy, confused, obscure, feculent, roily, mirky, misty, hazy, indistinct, shadowy
4. Clear as mud — slightly drunk; tipsy
clear as mud, sodden, muddled, blind, snuffy, fuddled, polluted IE, wet dated, obfuscated dated
Verb
1. Spatter — to damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish
dirty, foul, soil, blur, stain, besmirch, tarnish, cloud, blemish, denigrate, sully, smudge, smear, spatter dated, smirch dated
2. Muddle — to confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle
muddle, confuse, entangle, confound, bemud, jumble, complicate
3. Mud — to make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment
mud, stir up, roil, inturbidate dated rare
4. Foul up — to make (a matter, etc.) more complicated or unclear; to make a mess of (something)
Definitions
- adj. 1
Not clear. Of a colour: not bright: dirty, dull.
- adj. 2
Slightly drunk; tipsy.
- v. 1
To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment.
- v. 2
To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle.
The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject.
Forms
- Past participle
- muddied
e.g. muddied → dirtied, fouled, soiled, blurred…
Choose the right word
That which is complicated is likely to be obscure, but that may be obscure which is not at all complicated and scarcely complex, as a muddy pool.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- unclean What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.
- soiled If the napkin is dirty or soiled, please don't reuse it.
- impure Impure drinking water can be a carrier of diseases.
- dingy Lacking proper lighting, Tammy's room was depressingly dingy.
- swampy Swampy land is no use for building purposes.
- boggy Groningen used to be very boggy.
By length
- 3 letters
- wet1, mud1, wan1, dim1
- 4 letters
- soil1, foul1, dull1, hash1, blur1, hazy2, mire1, oozy, roil1, miry
- 5 letters
- thick1, blind1, dirty2, cloud1, faint1, stain1, smear1, misty2, foggy2, soggy2, murky2, slimy2, sully2, taint1
- 6 letters
- poison2, filthy2, sloppy2, cloudy2, gloomy2, opaque2, soiled1, impure2, grubby2, swampy2, smudge1, muddle2, jumble2, marshy2
- 7 letters
- obscure2, confuse2, shadowy3, unclean2, muddled2, tarnish2, blemish2, pollute2, spatter2, squashy2, fuddled, sloughy, clatchy, bemuddy
- 8 letters
- confused2, polluted3, confound2, entangle3, besmirch, feculent
- 9 letters
- denigrate3
- 10 letters
- complicate3, lackluster3, indistinct3, lacklustre, obfuscated
- 11 letters
- waterlogged3, inturbidate
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (hazy2 = 2 syllables).