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# muddled

«muddled» in Mova's school dictionary: **confused and not thinking clearly** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective; past form of «muddle» (muddle, muddles, muddled, muddling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Muddled means confused and not thinking clearly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#m1)

2) Muddled means mixed up and untidy, in the wrong order. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#m2)

3) It is the past form of the verb «muddle»: to mix things up or confuse them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In maths, a muddled answer has steps in the wrong order; teachers ask for clear working. In stories, a muddled character is confused, perhaps tired, old or scared. Phrases: «get muddled», «muddled up», «muddled thinking», «muddle through» (manage somehow).

### examples

- I got muddled and added instead of taking away. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x1)
- The papers were all muddled up on the floor. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x2)
- Grandpa gets a bit muddled about names. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x3)
- Her story was muddled and hard to follow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x4)
- He muddled the twins up again. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x5)
- After the long trip I felt tired and muddled. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x6)
- We muddled through the quiz without our best player. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x7)
- And the Cat sat down to the loom, and worked away; muddled everything about, if it didn't do much weaving. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/#x8)

### note

Verb: muddle, muddled, muddling. Noun: a muddle (a mess or confusion: «in a muddle»). Mostly British; Americans also say «mixed up». Not the same as «muddy» (covered in mud).

### In the corpora

- [The street was just as muddled.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/381-girls-who-fight-and-double-standards/3/)
- [The girls got muddled rules too.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/391-just-hit-him-back-or-tell-a-teacher/8/)
- [Names can get muddled.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/523-kinship-care-living-with-gran-or-an-aunt/17/)
- [As the anaesthetic wears off, children may feel sleepy, sick or muddled, and recovery nurses give medicine for sickness or pain.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/28-the-hospital-ward-operations-and-anaesthetic/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «muddled» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/muddled/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.