Muddle1. (v. t.) To make cloudy, or muddy; to confuse.
2. (v. t.) To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
3. (v. t.) To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
4. (v. t.) To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify.
5. (v. i.) To dabble in mud.
6. (v. i.) To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
7. (n.) A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or dullness.
Thesaurus Entries
addle, addle the wits, amaze, anarchy, ataxia, baffle, ball up, bamboozle, be all thumbs, beat, becloud, bedazzle, befog, befuddle, befuddlement, bemuse, bewilder, bewilderment, blunder, blunder away, blunder into, blunder on, blunder upon, blur, blur distinctions, boggle, bollix, bollix up, botch, botchery, bother, botheration, buffalo, bug, bumble, bungle, butcher, chaos, cloud, clutter, commit a gaffe, complicate, confound, confuse, confusion, contrive, cope, daze, dazzle, deform, disarrange, disarray, disaster, discombobulate, discombobulation, discomfit, discomfiture, discompose, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertion, dishevel, disorder, disorganization, disorganize, disorient, disorientation, distort, distract, disturb, disturbance, embarrass, embarrassment, embrangle, entangle, fabulous formless darkness, faux pas, fiasco, floor, flounder, flummox, flunk, flurry, fluster, flutter, fog, fog up, foozle, foul up, foul-up, frenzy, fuddle, fuddlement, fumble, fuss, fuzz, garble, get, get along, get by, hash, hassle, haze, huddle, implicate, involve, jumble, jumble together, jungle, keep in suspense, knock galley-west, knot, license, lick, limp, litter, louse up, lumber, make do, make it, make uncertain, mar, maze, mess, mess up, miscue, mishmash, mismanage, misrule, mist, mix, mix up, mix-up, moider, morass, muck, muck up, mud, muddle through, muddlement, muddy, muff, mull, murder, murmur, muss, muss up, mutter, mystify, nonplus, obfuscate, obscure, overlook distinctions, perplex, perplexity, perturb, perturbation, pi, play havoc with, play hob with, pother, pucker, put out, puzzle, raise hell, ramify, rattle, ravel, riffle, rile, ruffle, rummage, scramble, scrape along, scrape through, screw up, screw-up, shambles, shuffle, slip, snafu, snarl, snarl up, spoil, stew, stick, stumble, stump, swallow, sweat, swivet, tangle, throw, throw into confusion, throw off, tizzy, topsy-turviness, trip, tumble, unform, unsettle, unsettlement, unshape, upset, washout