muddy
adjective · verb
Simple meaning
Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or other sediment in suspension.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhdeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmʌdi
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.
adjective
Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud ("wet soil").
Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or (by extension) other sediment in suspension; cloudy, turbid.
Of or relating to mud; also, having the characteristics of mud, especially in colour or taste.
figuratively
Dirty, filthy.
figuratively
Of a colour: not bright: dirty, dull.
figuratively
Of light: cloudy, opaque.
verb
intransitivealso figuratively
Sometimes followed by up: to become covered or splashed with mud; to become dirty or soiled.
transitive
To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud.
transitive
To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment.
transitivefiguratively
To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle.
transitivefiguratively
To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish.
transitivefiguratively
To make (a colour) dirty, dull, or muted.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or (by extension) other sediment in suspension; cloudy, turbid.
Used this way, muddy 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
- mucky , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: covered or splashed with or or full of
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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.