muddle
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To mix together, to mix up.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhduhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmʌdəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To mix together, to mix up; to confuse.
To mash slightly for use in a cocktail.
To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
To make turbid or muddy.
noun
A mixture; a confusion; a garble.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To mix together, to mix up; to confuse.
Used this way, muddle is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- addle , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.