muddle
/ˈmʌd(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.79 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
Example Sentences
- "Young children tend to muddle their words."
- "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"
- "He muddled the mint sprigs in the bottom of the glass."
- "c. 1721-1722, Jonathan Swift, The Progress of Marriage Young ducklings foster'd by a hen; But, when let out, they run and muddle"
- "He did ill to Muddle the Water."
- "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."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: modelen, moddelen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmʌd(ə)l/
- British English: /ˈmʌdl̩/