Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

muddle through

/ˈmʌd(ə)l θɹu/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.79 in modern English

Syllables: mud-dle through
IPA: /ˈmʌd(ə)l θɹu/

24

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

2

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To succeed (often clumsily) despite being ill-equipped or inadequately trained.

Example Sentences

"I’ve only had a few lessons, but I can muddle through the test."
"Someday soon we all will be together / If the fates allow. / Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow. / So have yourself a merry little Christmas now."
"Well one is a little anxious, one is always wary of the unknown, but I have faith somehow I'll muddle through."
"If Labour's senior team thinks that it can just muddle through to the next election without a coherent plan about how to tackle the problems of the industry, it is making a big mistake."

Etymology

From muddle (“to think and act in a confused, aimless way”) + through.

Word Breakdown

Root: *myewh₁-

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈmʌd(ə)l θɹu/
British English: /ˈmʌdl̩ θɹuː/

Inflected Forms

muddles through (present, singular) muddling through (participle, present) muddled through (participle, past) muddled through (past)

Synonyms

get along get by make do muddle along scrape along scrape by

Questions

How do you pronounce muddle through?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmʌd(ə)l θɹu/.
What does muddle through mean?: To succeed (often clumsily) despite being ill-equipped or inadequately trained.
Where does muddle through come from?: From muddle (“to think and act in a confused, aimless way”) + through.

How to pronounce muddle through

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