What does "muddy" mean?
The edible mud crab or mangrove crab (Scylla serrata).
Muddy
/ˈmʌdi/ adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The edible mud crab or mangrove crab (Scylla serrata).
- Grammar: muddy is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: dirty, mucky, achromatic, achromic.
- Useful contrasts: clarify, clean, cleanlier.
- Usage evidence: Your shoes need brushing. They are muddy.
How to use "muddy"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "muddy" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "muddy" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "muddy" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "muddy" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "muddy" is acting as adj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "dirty" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "muddy", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The edible mud crab or mangrove crab (Scylla serrata). Australia, New-South-Wales, informal
Verb
- 1 To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud. transitive
"If you muddy your shoes don’t wear them inside."
- 2 make turbid wordnet
- 3 To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment. transitive
"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."
- 4 cause to become muddy wordnet
- 5 To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle. figuratively, transitive
"The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 dirty with mud wordnet
- 7 To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish. figuratively, transitive
- 8 To make (a colour) dirty, dull, or muted. figuratively, transitive
"The addition of the second batch of paint muddied the bright colours to a dull and washed look."
- 9 To make (a matter, etc.) more complicated or unclear; to make a mess of (something). figuratively, transitive
"As the humans establish tentative bonds with their evolutionary cousins, the inter-species waters start to muddy."
- 10 To make (something) impure; to contaminate. figuratively, transitive
- 11 To cause or permit (someone or something) to become stuck in mud; to mire. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"[…] I am novv ſir muddied in fortunes mood, and ſmell ſomevvhat ſtrong of her ſtrong diſpleaſure."
- 12 Sometimes followed by up: to become covered or splashed with mud; to become dirty or soiled. also, figuratively, intransitive
- 13 Of water or some other liquid: to become cloudy or turbid. intransitive
"Malt before hops, the world over, or the beer muddies."
- 14 To become contaminated or impure. figuratively, intransitive
Adjective
- 1 Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud (“wet soil”).
"He slogged across the muddy field."
- 2 Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or (by extension) other sediment in suspension; cloudy, turbid.
"The previously limpid water was now muddy as a result of the struggle between the alligator and the wild boar."
- 3 Of or relating to mud; also, having the characteristics of mud, especially in colour or taste.
"[H]er garments, heauy vvith her drinke, / Pul'd the poore vvretch from her melodious buy^([sic – meaning lay]), / To muddy death."
- 4 Soiled with feces. euphemistic
- 5 Of an animal or plant: growing or living in mud. archaic
"There is a point of strand / Near Vada's tower and town; and on one side / The treacherous marsh divides it from the land, / Shadowed by pine and ilex forests wide, / And on the other creeps eternally, / Through muddy weeds, the shallow, sullen sea."
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 Dirty, filthy. figuratively
"There's not the ſmalleſt orbe [in the sky] vvhich thou beholdſt, / But in his motion like an Angell ſings, / Still quiring to the young eide Cherubins; / Such harmony is in immortall ſoules, / But vvhilſt this muddy veſture of decay [i.e., the human body] / Doth groſſely cloſe in it, vve cannot heare it."
- 7 Not clear. figuratively
"To vvhat, my loue, ſhall I compare thine eyne? / Chriſtall is muddy."
- 8 Not clear.; Of a colour: not bright: dirty, dull. figuratively
- 9 Not clear.; Of an image: blurry or dim. figuratively
- 10 Not clear.; Of light: cloudy, opaque. figuratively
- 11 Not clear.; Of sound (especially during performance, recording, or playback): indistinct, muffled. figuratively
"The television picture is decent, but the sound is muddy."
- 12 Not clear.; Of speech, thinking, or writing: ambiguous or vague; or confused, incoherent, or mixed-up; also, poorly expressed. figuratively
"Do'ſt thinke I am ſo muddy, ſo vnſettled, / To appoint my ſelfe in this vexation?"
- 13 Not clear.; Of the air: not fresh; impure, polluted. figuratively, literary, poetic
"Our ovvn muddy atmoſphere, that vvraps us round in obſcurity, though it fails to gild our proſpects vvith ſun-ſhine, or our groves vvith fruitage, nevertheleſs anſvvers the calls of industry."
- 14 Originally, morally or religiously wrong; corrupt, sinful; now, morally or legally dubious; shady, sketchy. figuratively
"[B]y the vvill of God the Heavenly Principle (though it be in it ſelf inviſible and undiſcernible) in due time becomes a Spirit of ſavoury and affectionate diſcernment betvvixt the evil and the good; betvvixt the pure vvaters that flovv from the holy Spirit, and the muddy and tumultuous ſuggeſtions of the Fleſh."
- 15 Of a person or their facial expression: angry, sad, or sulky. archaic, figuratively
- 16 Slightly drunk; tipsy. figuratively, obsolete
"[N]ot that he gets drunk, for he is a very pious man, but he is always muddy."
Adjective
- 1 dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck wordnet
- 2 (of liquids) clouded as with sediment wordnet
- 3 (of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear; ‘dirty’ is often used in combination wordnet
- 4 (of soil) soft and watery wordnet
Example
"Your shoes need brushing. They are muddy."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "muddy"?
Common synonyms include: dirty, mucky, achromatic, achromic, addled, addling.
How do you use "muddy" in a sentence?
Your shoes need brushing. They are muddy.
How do you pronounce "muddy"?
Pronounced /ˈmʌdi/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English muddi, moddy, muddy (“covered with or full of mud, muddy”), from mud, mudde (“mud; turbid water”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Mud, mudde is possibly borrowed from Middle Dutch modde, and/or Middle Low German modde, mudde, from Proto-Germanic *mud-, *mudra- (“mud”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mew- (“moist”). The English word is analysable as mud + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Doublet of muddle. The verb is derived from the adjective. cognates * Middle Low German moddich, muddich (German Low German muddig (“muddy; mouldy”))
Etymology 2
From mud (crab) + -y (diminutive suffix).