I. ˈmədē, -di adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English moddy, from mode, mudde mud + -y
1. : morally impure : base
has avoided any off-color muddy humor — Newsweek
graft-ridden and muddy regime — D.M.Friedenberg
2.
a. : having a great deal of mud : covered with mud
clambering on the divan with muddy shoes — Lucius Garvin
waded through the muddy water — Robert Hichens
eyes were fixed on the muddy coastline — T.B.Costain
b. : characteristic of or resembling mud
a muddy flavor in freshwater fish caught in a muddy -bottomed lake — Jane Nickerson
a sky that had a muddy color
c. : turbid with sediment
quaff muddy ale in the bar — Max Peacock
the horrible muddy coffee
3. : cloudy in color : having no brightness or clarity : dull
eyes a little wild, muddy with anger and lack of sleep — John & Ward Hawkins
colors … are subdued, hinting thus at the muddy monotony of his later paintings — R.M.Coates
4. : living naturally close to or in mud
the coot is a muddy bird
5.
a. : cloudy in mind : muddled
are you able to reconstruct happenings clearly … in your mind, or do they come muddy and distorted — Charles Yerkow
a muddy thinker, but a superb artist — J.D.Adams
b. : obscure in meaning : confused
his style is never muddy — W.J.M.Rankine
6. : dejected , gloomy
the glandular, torpid, muddy stare — George Biddle
7. of musical tones : run together : not clearly defined or articulated : indistinct
Synonyms: see turbid
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to soil or stain with or as if with mud
muddied and weary horsemen — S.H.Adams
muddy and cheapen the quality of our actual everyday life — Thomas Wolfe
2. : to make turbid
what are you doing in my well, muddying it up like that — Erskine Caldwell
3. : to make cloudy or dull in color
a common admonition of the instructors is … “ muddy your colors” — American Fabrics
4. : to produce confusion in
exhaustion broke him down … and muddied his mind — Norman Mailer
emotionalism which has muddied discussion — C.J.Rolo
intransitive verb
: to become muddy