muddle

«muddle» in Mova's school dictionary: an untidy mess, or a state of confusion: «My drawer is in… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a muddle, muddles); verb (muddle, muddles, muddled, muddling); adjective muddled

meaning for a pupil

1) A muddle is an untidy mess, or a state of confusion: «My drawer is in a muddle». tree →

2) To muddle things means to mix them up or put them in the wrong order. tree →

3) To be muddled or get in a muddle means to feel confused or make mistakes because you cannot think clearly. tree →

4) (UK) To muddle through means to manage somehow, without a good plan. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life it describes untidy rooms and mixed-up facts; in maths lessons pupils get «in a muddle» with steps. Phrases: «in a muddle», «muddle up», «muddle through», «get muddled».

examples

• My socks are in a muddle. tree →
• I always muddle up «their» and «there». tree →
• Grandpa gets muddled when he's tired. tree →
• Don't muddle the numbers in your answer. tree →
• We had no map but muddled through. tree →
• The twins are easy to muddle. tree →
• The instructions were a total muddle. tree →
• Slow down so you don't get in a muddle with the sums. tree →

note

Regular verb: muddled, muddling (drop the e). «Muddle» is softer and gentler than «mess». It is common in British English.

In the corpora

• Apostrophes cause the worst muddles.
• The street was just as muddled.
• The girls got muddled rules too.
• Names can get muddled.
• As the anaesthetic wears off, children may feel sleepy, sick or muddled, and recovery nurses give medicine for sickness or pain.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «muddle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.