MUDDY (muddied, muddier, muddiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: muddied    , muddier    , muddiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does muddy mean? 

• MUDDY (adjective)
  The adjective MUDDY has 4 senses:

1. (of soil) soft and watery

2. dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck

3. (of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear

4. (of liquids) clouded as with sediment

  Familiarity information: MUDDY used as an adjective is uncommon.

• MUDDY (verb)
  The verb MUDDY has 3 senses:

1. dirty with mud

2. cause to become muddy

3. make turbid

  Familiarity information: MUDDY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MUDDY (adjective)

Comparative: muddier   
Superlative: muddiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

(of soil) soft and watery

Synonyms:

boggy; marshy; miry; mucky; muddy; quaggy; sloppy; sloughy; soggy; squashy; swampy; waterlogged

Context example:

swampy bayous

Similar:

wet (covered or soaked with a liquid such as water)

Derivation:

mud (water soaked soil; soft wet earth)

muddiness (the wetness of ground that is covered or soaked with water)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck

Synonyms:

mucky; muddy

Context example:

a mucky stable

Similar:

dirty; soiled; unclean (soiled or likely to soil with dirt or grime)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear

Synonyms:

dingy; dirty; muddied; muddy

Context example:

dirty-blonde hair

Similar:

impure (combined with extraneous elements)

Derivation:

muddiness (the quality of being cloudy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(of liquids) clouded as with sediment

Synonyms:

cloudy; mirky; muddy; murky; turbid

Context example:

murky waters

Similar:

opaque (not transmitting or reflecting light or radiant energy; impenetrable to sight)

Derivation:

muddiness (the quality of being cloudy)

• MUDDY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they muddy    ... he / she / it muddies   
Past simple: muddied   
Past participle: muddied   
-ing form: muddying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Dirty with mud

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

muddy; muddy up

Hypernyms (to "muddy" is one way to...):

begrime; bemire; colly; dirty; grime; soil (make soiled, filthy, or dirty)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to become muddy

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

These data would have muddied the prediction

Hypernyms (to "muddy" is one way to...):

blur; confuse; obnubilate; obscure (make unclear, indistinct, or blurred)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make turbid

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

muddy the water

Hypernyms (to "muddy" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

 Context examples 

Even these bore trace of the drunken folly of the pirates, one in a broken thwart, and both in their muddy and unbailed condition.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

How is it, then, that the woman who came into the room about nine left no traces with her muddy boots?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“This is where they came through,” said he, pointing to the marks of several feet upon the muddy path.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the water was too muddy to admit of his seeing the fish, and he was compelled to wait until the sediment had settled.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It was difficult to walk without falling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hid them from sight.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The muddy fall weather having come on, Martin had pledged his wheel some time since and retained his black suit.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Only thirteen days after, a haunch of prime venison was carried from my very tent door by the wolves, and on the same day two flasks of old vernage turned sour and muddy.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His eyes were yellow and muddy, as though Nature had run short on pigments and squeezed together the dregs of all her tubes.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

For now the sun seemed to have gone in as suddenly as it came out, and the world grew muddy and miserable again, and for the first time she discovered that her feet were cold, her head ached, and that her heart was colder than the former, fuller of pain than the latter.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The dismal quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways, and slatternly passengers, and its lamps, which had never been extinguished or had been kindled afresh to combat this mournful reinvasion of darkness, seemed, in the lawyer’s eyes, like a district of some city in a nightmare.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)