muck

1 of 2

noun

ˈmək 

1

: soft moist farmyard manure

2

: slimy dirt or filth

3

a

: defamatory remarks or writings

b

: rubbish, nonsense

mindless muck

4

a(1)

: dark highly organic soil

(2)

: mire, mud

b

: something resembling muck : gunk

5

: material removed in the process of excavating or mining

muck

2 of 2

verb

mucked; mucking; mucks

transitive verb

1

a

: to clean up

especially : to clear of manure or filth

—usually used with out

b

: to clear of muck

2

: to dress (something, such as soil) with muck

3

: to dirty with or as if with muck : soil

intransitive verb

1

: to move or load muck (as in a mine)

2

a

: to engage in aimless activity

—usually used with about or around

b

: putter, tinker

—usually used with about or around

mucking around with his computer

c

: interfere, meddle

—usually used with about or around

mucker noun

Synonyms

Noun

• crud
• dirt
• filth
• grime
• gunk
• smut
• soil

Verb

• befoul
• begrime
• bemire
• besmirch
• blacken
• daub
• dirty
• distain [archaic]
• foul
• gaum [dialect]
• grime
• mire
• muddy
• smirch
• smudge
• soil
• stain
• sully

Examples of muck in a Sentence

Noun

Clean that muck off your shoes.

spattered with muck from the pigpen

Verb

you can't work in the garden and not expect to muck your clothes

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

If a software team takes its inspiration from buyer personas and gets stuck on every small detail of packaging, everyone will get mired in the muck, missing the forest for the trees. —Chris Mele, Forbes, 10 Sep. 2024

As a result, many lakes are taken over by harmful algae blooms and accumulate muck on the bottom. —Evie Carrick, Travel + Leisure, 25 June 2024

Verb

The film mucks around in fame and fans and mental illness and monsters—Lady Gaga themes, all. —Jonathan Van Meter, Vogue, 5 Sep. 2024

There’s a long history of American mercenaries mucking around south of the border, certainly in the 1980s under Reagan, and of course going back to the Bay of Pigs under Kennedy. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 7 Aug. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English muk, perhaps from Old English -moc; akin to Old Norse myki dung

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Phrases Containing muck

• high-muck-a-muck
• high-muckety-muck
• make a muck of (something)
• muck about/around
• muck about/around with
• muck-a-muck
• muckety-muck
• muck in
• muck out
• muck up
• mucky-muck

Kids Definition

muck

1 of 2 noun

ˈmək

1

: soft moist barnyard manure

2

: dirt sense 1, filth

3

a

: dark rich soil

b

: mud, mire

mucky

ˈmək-ē

adjective

muck

2 of 2 verb

1

: to clean up

especially : to clear of manure or filth

2

: to dress with muck

3

: to dirty with or as if with muck