Muddy

//ˈmʌdi// adj, noun, verb, slang

adj, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The edible mud crab or mangrove crab (Scylla serrata). Australia, New-South-Wales, informal
Verb
  1. 1
    To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud. transitive

    "If you muddy your shoes don’t wear them inside."

  2. 2
    make turbid wordnet
  3. 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. 4
    cause to become muddy wordnet
  5. 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
  1. 6
    dirty with mud wordnet
  2. 7
    To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish. figuratively, transitive
  3. 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."

  4. 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."

  5. 10
    To make (something) impure; to contaminate. figuratively, transitive
  6. 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."

  7. 12
    Sometimes followed by up: to become covered or splashed with mud; to become dirty or soiled. also, figuratively, intransitive
  8. 13
    Of water or some other liquid: to become cloudy or turbid. intransitive

    "Malt before hops, the world over, or the beer muddies."

  9. 14
    To become contaminated or impure. figuratively, intransitive
Adjective
  1. 1
    Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud (“wet soil”).

    "He slogged across the muddy field."

  2. 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. 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. 4
    Soiled with feces. euphemistic
  5. 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."

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  1. 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."

  2. 7
    Not clear. figuratively

    "To vvhat, my loue, ſhall I compare thine eyne? / Chriſtall is muddy."

  3. 8
    Not clear.; Of a colour: not bright: dirty, dull. figuratively
  4. 9
    Not clear.; Of an image: blurry or dim. figuratively
  5. 10
    Not clear.; Of light: cloudy, opaque. figuratively
  6. 11
    Not clear.; Of sound (especially during performance, recording, or playback): indistinct, muffled. figuratively

    "The television picture is decent, but the sound is muddy."

  7. 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?"

  8. 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."

  9. 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."

  10. 15
    Of a person or their facial expression: angry, sad, or sulky. archaic, figuratively
  11. 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. 1
    dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck wordnet
  2. 2
    (of liquids) clouded as with sediment wordnet
  3. 3
    (of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear; ‘dirty’ is often used in combination wordnet
  4. 4
    (of soil) soft and watery wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dirtymuckyturbidbemirebemudmire

Example

More examples

"Your shoes need brushing. They are muddy."

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).

Related phrases

Muddy MississippiMuddy Yorkmuddy the watermuddy the watersmuddy up

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.