muddy the waters
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some have tried to muddy the waters on the events of that day, but the record is clear.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2026
To muddy the waters further, another of Mark McDonald's panel of experts has said that in fact there was post-mortem evidence of air embolism in the babies.
From BBC • Aug. 11, 2025
A person's actions, however, can often have some plausible ambiguity that bad faith actors can exploit to muddy the waters.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2025
“The defense is going to muddy the waters on whether that gun was somehow defective and maybe fired on its own or fired with a slight depress of the trigger.”
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 2024
The rips in the map told me that she had not intended this as a clue— Margo was too precise and assured with her clues to muddy the waters.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
