Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

knee-deep in the big muddy

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.51 in modern English

Syllables: knee-deep- in the big -mud-dy
IPA

41

Scrabble Score

21

Letters

5

Syllables

13

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Stuck in a predicament; mired in a difficult situation, especially one resulting from poor judgment or bad leadership.

American usage

Example Sentences

"Polls show three-quarters of the people don't want us to invade Haiti. Nonetheless, it appears we're about to go knee-deep in the Big Muddy."
"The 40-year-old Fastow, a hot-tempered financial whiz, engineered the controversial partnerships that led to Enron's meltdown. . . . "He's knee-deep in the big muddy," Meagher says."
"In the classic ‘knee deep in the Big Muddy’ scenario (Staw, 1976), individuals continue to contribute to a losing cause long after it is clear that this is a tremendous waste of money."

Etymology

From Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (1967), a folk song by Pete Seeger, protesting the war in Vietnam.

Usage

American usage

Synonyms

bogged down waist-deep in the Big Muddy

Questions

What does knee-deep in the big muddy mean?: Stuck in a predicament; mired in a difficult situation, especially one resulting from poor judgment or bad leadership.
Where does knee-deep in the big muddy come from?: From Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (1967), a folk song by Pete Seeger, protesting the war in Vietnam.

How to pronounce knee-deep in the big muddy

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