Addled

/ˈæ.dəld/ · verb

Meaning

simple past and past participle of addle.

Definitions by Sense

1. simple past and past participle of addle
2. (of eggs) Bad, rotten; inviable, containing a dead embryo.
3. (figurative, of persons or their thoughts) Confused; mixed up.
4. (obsolete) Morbid, corrupt, putrid, or barren.

Example Sentences

He was touched in the cavity where his heart should have been—in that nest of addled eggs, where the birds of heaven would have lived if they had not been whistled away—by the fervour of this reproach.

I haven’t a bit o’ patience with you—sitting on an addled egg for ever, as if there was never a fresh un in the world.

We have learned to whittle the Eden Tree to the shape of a surplice-peg, / We have learned to bottle our parents twain in the yelk of an addled egg,

coke-addled

crack-addled

But she counted and counted till she got that addled she’d start to count in the basket for a spoon sometimes; […].

[…] my addled brain required as much sleep as an infant.

A long combat career exposed to weapons blasts had left him struggling with depression and anger, a frayed memory and addled concentration.

Synonyms for addled

Antonyms for addled

Related Words

Word Forms

• more addled
• most addled

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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