muddle

Meaning

Verb

1. To mix together, to mix up; to confuse.
2. To mash slightly for use in a cocktail.
3. To dabble in mud.
4. To make turbid or muddy.
5. To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
6. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
7. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.

Noun

1. A mixture; a confusion; a garble.
2. A mixture of crushed ingredients, as prepared with a muddler.
3. (archaic) A muddy mess.

Noun

A servant's attendant; underservant.

Synonyms

mess

confusion

jumble

confuse

tangle

disorder

bewilder

clutter

puddle

fuddle

muss

mix-up

obfuscate

chaos

shemozzle

pother

mix up

mess up

entanglement

disconcert

smother

disarrangement

disarrange

snafu

welter

disarray

kettle of fish

fix

pickle

perplex

roil

embarrass

embroilment

scrape

mix

distract

complicate

jam

addle

hole

🕳️

mare’s nest

mull

shambles

discompose

discomfit

discombobulate

bungle

bedim

botch

hash

#️⃣

Translations

pasticcio

🥧

embrouillamini

lío

Durcheinander

désordre

confusione

embrollo

disordine

imbroglio

gâchis

confusion

guazzabuglio

verwirren

imbrogliare

Wirrwarr

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmʌdl̩/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: modelen

Cognate with Dutch: modder

Cognate with German: Kuddelmuddel

In summary

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.