Muddle Meaning
/ˈmʌdl̩/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo mix together, to mix up; to confuse.
verbTo mash slightly for use in a cocktail.
Sentence Examples
I'm in the middle of a muddle.
Tom was in a real muddle over his holiday plans.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The complex instructions will ____ the team members and delay the entire project.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The traveler got into a complete ____ with the different train times and accidentally ended up in a completely different city than he had originally intended.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English modelen (attested in present participle modeland (“wallowing”)), from Middle Dutch moddelen (“to make muddy”), from modde, mod (“mud”) (Modern Dutch modder). By surface analysis, mud + -le. Compare German Kuddelmuddel.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I will not , to please hostile critics , muddle the argument by making it one of recondite learning , in which neither I nor my readers are strong . I try to lay before the reader reasons from which he can judge for himself"
— 1847, Francis William Newman, A History of the Hebrew Monarchy:
"He did ill to Muddle the Water."
— 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
"Their old master Epicurus seems to have had his brains so muddled and confounded with them, that he scarce ever kept in the right way."
— 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:
"[…] I vvas for five Years often drunk, alvvays muddled, they carry'd me from Tavern to Tavern, to Alehouſes and Brandy Shops, and brought me acquainted vvith ſuch ſtrange Dogs!"
— 1733, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], Alexander Pope, compiler, “Law is a Bottomless Pit. Or, The History of John Bull. […]. The Second Part. Chapter VIII. A Continuation of the Conversation betwixt John Bull and His Wife.”, in Miscellanies, 2nd edition, volume II, London: […] Benjamin Motte, […], →OCLC, page 99:
"They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it."
— 1821, William Hazlitt, On the Want of Money:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The complex instructions will ____ the team members and delay the entire project.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The traveler got into a complete ____ with the different train times and accidentally ended up in a completely different city than he had originally intended.