• IPA: [ˈmʌdi]

muddy (comparative muddier, superlative muddiest)

1. Covered with or full of mud or wet soil.

   He slogged across the muddy field.

   Take off your muddy boots before you come inside.

2. With mud or other sediment brought into suspension, turbid.

   The previously limpid water was now muddy as a result of the epic struggle.

3. Not clear; mixed up or blurry.

   The picture is decent, but the sound is muddy.

4. Confused; stupid; incoherent; vague.

   • cold hearts and muddy understandings

   • c. 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The VVinters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii]:

     dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled

5. (euphemistic) Soiled with feces.

• French: boueux, vaseux
• German: schlammig
• Italian: fangoso
• Portuguese: barroso, lodoso
• Russian: гря́зный
• Spanish: turbio, enfangado, fangoso, barroso, lodoso

• Portuguese: turvo
• Russian: му́тный
• Spanish: pantanoso, turbio

muddy (muddies, present participle muddying; past muddied, past participle muddied)

1. (transitive) To get mud on (something).

   If you muddy your shoes don't wear them inside.

2. (transitive) To make a mess of, or create confusion with regard to; to muddle.

   The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject.

   • 2014, Steve Rose, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: a primate scream - first look review ↗", The Guardian, 1 July 2014:

     As the humans establish tentative bonds with their evolutionary cousins, the inter-species waters start to muddy.