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
"Inevitably it will somewhat muddy the waters," Rothwell says.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
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
“Rae, let’s not do this. You’re an amazing girl and we’ve got a good thing going, so let’s not muddy the waters, okay?”
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
