Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

muddy the waters

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.54 in modern English

Syllables: mud-dy the wa-ters
IPA

27

Scrabble Score

14

Letters

3

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To make something unclear and difficult to understand.

Informal

Example Sentences

"He insisted that the Basque separatist group Eta remained the main line of investigation, and suggested the tape may have been an attempt to muddy the waters."
"“Thank you for having me on,” Banks began. The one statement he made that sounded genuinely credible. It’s not often that someone accused of electoral fraud gets to muddy the waters on live television ahead of a possible criminal investigation."
""Some applications will fail. ORR does not need strong-arm tactics from DfT muddying the waters.""

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

muddies the waters (present, singular) muddying the waters (participle, present) muddied the waters (participle, past) muddied the waters (past) muddy the water (alternative)

Phrases

clear as mud muddle-headed

Frequently Paired Words

clear as mud muddied muddled muddle-headed

Questions

What does muddy the waters mean?: To make something unclear and difficult to understand.

How to pronounce muddy the waters

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “muddy the waters”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “muddy the waters”.
Repeat and practice — Say “muddy the waters” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.