muddying

Verb

muddy (third-person singular simple present muddies, present participle muddying, simple past and past participle muddied)

1. (transitive) To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud.
   • If you muddy your shoes don’t wear them inside.

   Synonyms:

   bemire, bemud, clart

2. (transitive) To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment.
   • This is at the bottom a dictate of common ſenſe, or the inſtinct of ſelf-defence, peculiar to ignorant weakneſs; reſembling that inſtinct, which makes a fiſh muddy the water it ſwims in to allude its enemy, inſtead of boldly facing it in the clear ſtream.1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Duty to Parents”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter...

   Synonyms:

   inturbidate, mud, muddle, roil, stir up

3. (figuratively, transitive) To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle.
   • The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject.

   Synonyms:

   bemud, confound, entangle, addle, baffle, vex, lose, embroil, stick, stump

4. (figuratively, transitive) To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish.

   Synonyms:

   blemish, denigrate, stain, assassinate, asperse, backbite, badmouth, befoul, belibel, besmirch

5. (figuratively, transitive) To make (a colour) dirty, dull, or muted.
   • The addition of the second batch of paint muddied the bright colours to a dull and washed look.

   Synonyms:

   dim, dull, dullen

6. (figuratively, transitive) To make (a matter, etc.) more complicated or unclear; to make a mess of (something).
   • As the humans establish tentative bonds with their evolutionary cousins, the inter-species waters start to muddy.2014 July 1, Steve Rose, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: a primate scream – first look review”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from...

   Synonyms:

   foul up, hash, mangle

See all 28 meanings of muddy