muddied
part of speech
verb form (past tense and past participle of muddy: muddy, muddies, muddied, muddying); adjective (muddied)
meaning for a pupil
1) Made dirty or covered with mud. tree →
2) (figurative) Made something less clear or more confusing, as in "muddied the waters". tree →
sense in the lessons
Everyday: muddied boots, knees and football kits. In stories and news, "muddy the waters" means to make a situation more confusing, often on purpose. Phrases: "muddy the waters", "muddied boots".
examples
- The players came off the pitch with muddied knees. tree →
- My new trainers got muddied on the walk. tree →
- The stream was muddied after the heavy rain. tree →
- Leave your muddied wellies by the back door. tree →
- His long explanation only muddied the waters. tree →
- The cows had muddied the gate with their hooves. tree →
- The extra rules muddied things instead of making them clear. tree →
note
Spelling: change "y" to "i" before -ed (muddy → muddied, muddies), but keep the "y" before -ing (muddying). "Muddy" is also an adjective: "muddy boots".
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «muddied» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.