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muddy the waters

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muddy the waters

to make a situation more confusing He's just trying to muddy the waters so we won't notice all the bad things he's done.

Usage notes: sometimes used with a modifier: The controversy has muddied the social waters of communities throughout this region.

Related vocabulary: muck something up

See also: muddy, water

muddy the waters

to make a situation more confused and less easy to understand or deal with The statistics you quoted didn't prove anything, they simply muddied the waters.

See also: muddy, water

muddy the waters

Confuse the issue, as in Bringing up one irrelevant fact after another, he succeeded in muddying the waters. This metaphoric expression, alluding to making a pond or stream turbid by stirring up mud from the bottom, was first recorded in 1837.

See also: muddy, water