muddle
n.a state of confusion or a lack of order. You use this when things are messy or when someone is not thinking clearly.
n.a state of confusion, disorder, or mental disorientation. Often implies a lack of systematic arrangement or a failure to understand a situation clearly.
“The paperwork is in a complete muddle.”
“The schedule got into a terrible muddle after three different people tried to change the meeting times.”
“The legal proceedings descended into a bureaucratic muddle, with conflicting testimonies and missing evidence making a clear verdict nearly impossible to reach.”
Commonly appears in the phrase 'in a muddle' or 'get into a muddle'.
“Before visiting a doctor, she had been muddling up words, forgetting people’s names and flooding the bathroom.”
“The world has been able to muddle through the first few months of the Iran war, but the earliest efforts to keep oil markets balanced are running out of time.”