clear as mud

English

Etymology

Blend of clear as day +‎ mud. Compare muddy (“unclear, blurry”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

clear as mud (not comparable)

1. (simile, sarcastic) Unclear; difficult or impossible to understand or interpret.

   Antonyms: clear as day; see also Thesaurus:obvious

   Near-synonyms: muddied, muddy, muddled, muddle-headed

Related terms

• muddy the waters

Translations

unclear

• Finnish: samea (fi), läpinäkymätön (fi)
• Hungarian: világos, mint a vakablak (hu), se füle, se farka
• Polish: mętny (pl), zagmatwany (pl)
• Swedish: klart som lervälling