Dictionary

murky en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɜː(ɹ)ki/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English mirky. Related to Old Norse myrkr, Russian мрак (mrak) and its Slavic cognates. By surface analysis, murk + -y.

Meanings

1. Hard to see through, as a fog or mist.
   • The Streets of London, to be beheld in the very height of their glory, should be seen on a dark, dull, murky, winter's night, when there is just enough damp gently stealing down to make the pavement greasy without cleansing it of any of its impurities, […] 1837, “Boz” [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “The Streets by Night”, in Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life, and Every-day People. The Second Series, London: John Macrone, […], →OCLC, page 19:
   • […] as sunbeams appear to shine with a greater effulgence of beauty when they break through the murky clouds of a winter evening than when they flood the earth from the serene splendour of a summer noon. 1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page xi:
2. Dark, dim, gloomy.
   • The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program got murkier Tuesday when the Texas attorney general made good on a threat to challenge it in court. 2018 May 1, Tal Kopan, “7 states sue to end DACA, potentially jumbling its legal future”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 May 2018:
   • Ferdinand: As I hope / For quite dayes, faire Iſſue, and long life, / With ſuch loue, as 'tis now the murkieſt den, / The moſt opportune place, the ſtrongſt ſuggeſtion, / Our worſer Genius can, shall neuer melt / Mine honor into luſt,[…] 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 14:
3. Cloudy, indistinct, obscure.
   • They may face an impenetrable word, approach its murky history from every direction, and fail to find a convincing solution (or even any solution: “origin unknow,” “the rest is unclear,” and the like). 2021 April 21, Anatoly Liberman, “Going out on a Limb”, in Oxford Etymologist, archived from the original on 21 Apr 2021:
   • He became for a short time delirious, in consequence of attempting to comprehend the works of Mr. Nebulous, in which the English language is exhibited casting of summersets, with many prancings to and fro, before earnest-gazing, head-scratching readers, in murkiest obscuration, marvel stricken, with maddest humour and grinning contortions, heels-over-head, wondrous! 1849 June, Michael South, “The Peace Campaigns of Ensign Faunce. [Part III. Chapter XIV.]”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XXXIX, number CCXXXIV, London: John W[illiam] Parker, West Strand, →OCLC, page 679, column 1:
   • murky waters
   • Mr. Farrier, 39, said he often questioned the moral implications of his trips. “It’s very ethically murky territory,” Mr. Farrier said. 2022 October 28, Maria Cramer, “Beaches? Cruises? ‘Dark’ Tourists Prefer the Gloomy and Macabre”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 01 Nov 2022:
   • China’s murky statistics are fueling widespread public distrust. Its narrow definition of Covid deaths “will very much underestimate the true death toll,” the W.H.O. says. 2022 December 23, Keith Bradsher, Amy Chang Chien, Joy Dong, “As Cases Explode, China’s Low Covid Death Toll Convinces No One”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Dec 2022:
   • murky territory
   • Offshore investment is among the murkiest sectors of the financial world. That’s by design – keeping money offshore can help shield money from tax authorities, obscure its origin and conceal the genuine owners. 2016 April 4, Charles Riley and Euan McKirdy, “The murky world of offshore tax havens”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2025:
4. (broadly) Dishonest, shady.
   • Ever since X-Men: First Class set the series' clock back a few decades and installed Michael Fassbender's moody Magneto and James McAvoy's louche Charles Xavier as replacements for Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart's chess-playing pappies, the big-screen X-Men's central conflict—Xavier's Booker T. Washington-esque School For Gifted Youngsters vs. a rogue's gallery of evil mutants, crew cuts, and politicos—has gotten a lot murkier. 2016 May 23, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “Apocalypse pits the strengths of the X-Men series against the weaknesses”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 May 2016:

Forms

Deriveds

murkiness · murkily · murky bass

Relateds

murk

Synonyms

dark

Translations (46)

sco mirk (hard to see through) · uk каламутний (hard to see through) · pl nieprzenikniony (hard to see through) · fr trouble (hard to see through) · fi hämäräperäinen (dishonest, shady) · cs pochybný (dishonest, shady) · cmn 混濁 /混浊 (hard to see through) · de trüb (hard to see through) · nl troebel (hard to see through) · pl ciemny (dishonest, shady) · da skummel (dishonest, shady) · ru тёмный (dishonest, shady) · cs temný (hard to see through) · ru му́тный (hard to see through) · be каламутны (hard to see through) · vi đục (hard to see through) · ru гря́зный (dishonest, shady) · egl scûr (hard to see through) · es turbio (hard to see through) · he מטושטוש (hard to see through) · nl troebele (hard to see through) · de düster (hard to see through) · la turbidus (hard to see through) · nn grumsete (hard to see through) · da uigennemsigtig (hard to see through) · ka შავბნელი (hard to see through) · ro tulbure (hard to see through) · he עכור (hard to see through) · bg мътен (hard to see through) · tr bulanık (hard to see through) · pl mętny (hard to see through) · ka ბნელი (hard to see through) · cs podezřelý (dishonest, shady) · cs neprůhledný (hard to see through) · ka უკუნი (hard to see through) · fr sombre (hard to see through) · he מעומעם (hard to see through) · fi samea (hard to see through) · pl podejrzany (dishonest, shady) · cs zakalený (hard to see through) · fi sakea (hard to see through) · cs šerý (hard to see through) · km ល្អក់ (hard to see through) · ka დაბინდული (hard to see through) · ga modartha (hard to see through) · cs kalný (hard to see through)