I. mud ‧ dle 1 /ˈmʌdl/ BrE AmE noun
1 . be in a muddle/get into a muddle British English
a) to be confused:
I’m in such a muddle, I’d completely forgotten you were coming today.
be in a muddle/get into a muddle over/about
My grandmother tends to get into a muddle over names.
b) to be untidy or in a disorganized state:
Sorry about the mess – we’re in a bit of a muddle at the moment.
All my files have got into a muddle somehow.
2 . [countable usually singular, uncountable] when there is confusion about something, and things are done wrong as a result:
Our accountant finally managed to sort out the muddle.
muddle over/about
There was a bit of a muddle over our hotel reservations.
II. muddle 2 BrE AmE ( also muddle up ) verb [transitive] especially British English
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: Probably from early Dutch moddelen 'to make muddy' , from Middle Dutch modde 'mud' ]
1 . to put things in the wrong order:
Someone’s muddled up all the papers on my desk.
The government seems to have lost its way and muddled its priorities.
2 . to confuse one person or thing with another, and make a mistake SYN mix up :
The twins are so alike that it’s easy to muddle them up.
Spanish and Italian are very similar and I sometimes get them muddled up.
muddle something with something
Be careful not to muddle the files you’ve already worked on with the others.
3 . to confuse someone, especially so that they make a mistake:
Don’t muddle her with all the extra details at the moment.
Could you just repeat those figures – I’ve got a bit muddled up.
muddle along/on phrasal verb
to continue doing something without having any clear plan or purpose, or without having enough help or support:
There’s no point in muddling on in the same old job for ever.
Many of the students complained that they were left to muddle along on their own.
muddle through (something) phrasal verb especially British English
to succeed in doing something with difficulty, or not in a very satisfactory way:
There were some difficult questions but I managed to muddle through.
The team managed to muddle through another season.