Muddle
['mʌd(ə)l] or ['mʌdl]
Definition
(v. t.) To make turbid, or muddy, as water.
(v. t.) To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
(v. t.) To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
(v. t.) To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify.
(v. i.) To dabble in mud.
(v. i.) To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
(n.) A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or dullness.
Edited by Francine
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Make muddy, make turbid.[2]. Stupefy, fuddle, inebriate, make half drunk, make tipsy.
Edited by Laurence
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Fail, waste, fritter_away, confuse, derange, misarrange
ANT:Clarify, manage, economize, classify, arrange
Checked by Lanny
Definition
v.t. to render muddy or foul as water: to confuse esp. with liquor: to waste squander misuse.—v.i. to potter about.—n. confusion mess: mental confusion bewilderment.—n. Mudd′lehead a blockhead.—adv. Muddlehead′edly.—n. Muddlehead′edness.
Editor: Moll
Examples
- She would marry him, he would go into Parliament in the Conservative interest, he would clear up the great muddle of labour and industry. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Must we continue to muddle along in the old ruts, gazing rapturously at an impotent ideal, until the works of the scientists are matured? Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I've been working away at mathematics till my head is in a muddle, and I'm going to freshen my wits by a brisk turn. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Tis just a muddle a'toogether, an' the sooner I am dead, the better. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Thou mak'st me humbly wishfo' to be more like thee, and fearfo' to lose thee when this life is ower, and a' the muddle cleared awa'. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- If we was not in a muddle among ourseln, I should'n ha' been, by my own fellow weavers and workin' brothers, so mistook. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- I come to the muddle many times and agen, and I never get beyond it. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- If those were the generalizations of a tired business man after a heavy dinner and a big cigar, they would still seem rather muddled and useless. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I was muddled, but not with fair drinking. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- ROBINSON CRUSOE--God knows how--had got into my muddled old head. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- If aw th' things that tooches us, my dear, was not so muddled, I should'n ha' had'n need to coom heer. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- It was found that all his property had been muddled away in speculations, and was represented by valueless shares in different bubble companies. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- All my accounts has got muddled agin. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Typed by Brooke