muddy the waters

English

Alternative forms

• muddy the water

Verb

muddy the waters (third-person singular simple present muddies the waters, present participle muddying the waters, simple past and past participle muddied the waters)

1. (informal, idiomatic) To make something unclear and difficult to understand.
   • 2004 March 12, Giles Tremlett, “The clues that point towards al-Qaida”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     He insisted that the Basque separatist group Eta remained the main line of investigation, and suggested the tape may have been an attempt to muddy the waters.

   • 2018 November 4, John Crace, “Marr founders on the Rocks of Arron Banks's muddy waters”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     “Thank you for having me on,” Banks began. The one statement he made that sounded genuinely credible. It’s not often that someone accused of electoral fraud gets to muddy the waters on live television ahead of a possible criminal investigation.

   • 2025 July 9, David Stubbings, “Network News: Open access row: DfT accused of "strong-arm tactics"”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 6:

     "Some applications will fail. ORR does not need strong-arm tactics from DfT muddying the waters."

Related terms

• clear as mud
• muddied
• muddled
• muddle-headed

Translations

To make something unclear and difficult to understand

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 攪渾水 / 搅浑水 (jiǎo húnshuǐ)

• Finnish: sotkea asiaa, hämmentää (fi)
• French: noyer le poisson (fr), brouiller les pistes (fr)
• Greek: θολώνω τα νερά (el) (tholóno ta nerá)
• Italian: intorbidare le acque, confondere le acque, offuscare la questione, eludere il problema, sviare l'attenzione, tergiversare, svicolare
• Polish: zaciemniać obraz
• Russian: мути́ть во́ду impf (mutítʹ vódu)