Meanings
- USidiomaticStuck in a predicament; mired in a difficult situation, especially one resulting from poor judgment or bad leadership.
Polls show three-quarters of the people don't want us to invade Haiti. Nonetheless, it appears we're about to go knee-deep in the Big Muddy.
1994 September 16, Cal Thomas, “Clinton should heed Gore advice”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 04 Jan 20102 more examples
The 40-year-old Fastow, a hot-tempered financial whiz, engineered the controversial partnerships that led to Enron's meltdown. . . . "He's knee-deep in the big muddy," Meagher says.
2002 July 16, Edward Iwata, “Enron faces 'hornet's nest' of charges”, in USA Today, retrieved 04 Jan 2010In the classic ‘knee deep in the Big Muddy’ scenario (Staw, 1976), individuals continue to contribute to a losing cause long after it is clear that this is a tremendous waste of money.
2007, Janice Langan-Fox et al., Research Companion to the Dysfunctional Workplace, →ISBN, page 142Synonyms: bogged down, waist-deep in the Big Muddy
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveStuck in a predicament; mired in a difficult situation, especially one resulting from poor judgment or bad leadership.
Origin
From Waist Deep in the Big Muddy (1967), a folk song by Pete Seeger, protesting the war in Vietnam.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
knee-deep in the Big Muddy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knee-deep%20in%20the%20Big%20Muddy
“knee-deep in the Big Muddy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knee-deep%20in%20the%20Big%20Muddy. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “knee-deep in the Big Muddy,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/knee-deep%20in%20the%20Big%20Muddy.
Source: knee-deep in the Big Muddy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.