muddle
verb /ˈmʌdl/
/ˈmʌdl/
(especially British English)Verb Forms
Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they muddle | /ˈmʌdl/ /ˈmʌdl/ |
| he / she / it muddles | /ˈmʌdlz/ /ˈmʌdlz/ |
| past simple muddled | /ˈmʌdld/ /ˈmʌdld/ |
| past participle muddled | /ˈmʌdld/ /ˈmʌdld/ |
| -ing form muddling | /ˈmʌdlɪŋ/ /ˈmʌdlɪŋ/ |
- to put things in the wrong order or mix them up
- muddle something Don't do that—you're muddling my papers.
- muddle something up Their letters were all muddled up together in a drawer.
- All the cups and saucers have been muddled up.
- muddle somebody (up) to confuse somebody
- Slow down a little—you're muddling me.
- muddle somebody/something (up) | muddle A (up) with B to confuse one person or thing with another synonym mix up
- I muddled the dates and arrived a week early.
- He got all muddled up about what went where.
- They look so alike, I always get them muddled up.
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘wallow in mud’): perhaps from Middle Dutch moddelen, frequentative of modden ‘dabble in mud’; compare with mud. The sense ‘confuse’ was initially associated with alcoholic drink (late 17th cent.), giving rise to ‘busy oneself in a confused way’ and ‘jumble up’ (mid 19th cent.).