addle – English verb conjugation

English verb forms of addle

Nominal Forms

Infinitive: to addle
Participle: addled
Gerund: addling

Cognates

See the 2 cognates of addle

Indicative

Present

Iaddle
youaddle
he;she;itaddles
weaddle
youaddle
theyaddle

Perfect

Ihave addled
youhave addled
he;she;ithas addled
wehave addled
youhave addled
theyhave addled

Past

Iaddled
youaddled
he;she;itaddled
weaddled
youaddled
theyaddled

Pluperfect

Ihad addled
youhad addled
he;she;ithad addled
wehad addled
youhad addled
theyhad addled

Future

Iwill addle
youwill addle
he;she;itwill addle
wewill addle
youwill addle
theywill addle

Future Perfect

Iwill have addled
youwill have addled
he;she;itwill have addled
wewill have addled
youwill have addled
theywill have addled

Subjunctive

Present

Iaddle
youaddle
he;she;itaddle
weaddle
youaddle
theyaddle

Perfect

Ihave addled
youhave addled
he;she;ithave addled
wehave addled
youhave addled
theyhave addled

Imperfect

Iaddled
youaddled
he;she;itaddled
weaddled
youaddled
theyaddled

Pluperfect

Ihad addled
youhad addled
he;she;ithad addled
wehad addled
youhad addled
theyhad addled

Conditional

Present

Iwould addle
youwould addle
he;she;itwould addle
wewould addle
youwould addle
theywould addle

Perfect

Iwould have addled
youwould have addled
he;she;itwould have addled
wewould have addled
youwould have addled
theywould have addled

Imperative

youaddle
weLet's addle
youaddle

Progressive (Continuous) Forms

Indicative

Present

Iam addling
youare addling
he;she;itis addling
weare addling
youare addling
theyare addling

Perfect

Ihave been addling
youhave been addling
he;she;ithas been addling
wehave been addling
youhave been addling
theyhave been addling

Past

Iwas addling
youwere addling
he;she;itwas addling
wewere addling
youwere addling
theywere addling

Pluperfect

Ihad been addling
youhad been addling
he;she;ithad been addling
wehad been addling
youhad been addling
theyhad been addling

Future

Iwill be addling
youwill be addling
he;she;itwill be addling
wewill be addling
youwill be addling
theywill be addling

Future Perfect

Iwill have been addling
youwill have been addling
he;she;itwill have been addling
wewill have been addling
youwill have been addling
theywill have been addling

Conditional

Present

Iwould be addling
youwould be addling
he;she;itwould be addling
wewould be addling
youwould be addling
theywould be addling

Perfect

Iwould have been addling
youwould have been addling
he;she;itwould have been addling
wewould have been addling
youwould have been addling
theywould have been addling

Other

Verbs similar to 'addle'

adde, daddle, faddle, maddle, paddle, raddle, saddle, waddle, able, add,

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

confuse
bewilder, fluster, muddle, befuddle, disturb, perturb, ruffle

Additional Information

Phrasal Verbs

Etymology

1. From Middle English adel (“rotten”), from Old English adel, adela (“mire, pool, liquid excrement”), from Proto-West Germanic *adal, from Proto-Germanic *adalaz, *adalô (“cattle urine, liquid manure”).
2. Akin to Scots adill, North Frisian ethel (“urine”), Saterland Frisian adel (“dung”), Middle Low German adele (“mud, liquid manure”) (Dutch aal (“liquid manure”)), Old Swedish adel (“urine”), Danish ajle (“liquid manure”), Bavarian Adel (“liquid manure”). See: Danish 'ajle'.

Sample Sentences

  • to addle someone's brain
  • The same female bard—descended, possibly, from those terrible old Scalds who seem to have existed for the express purpose of addling the brains of mankind when they begin to investigate languages—made a standing pretence which greatly assisted in forcing me back to a number of hideous places that I would by all means have avoided. [1860 January 28 – October 13, Charles Dickens, chapter XV, in The Uncommercial Traveller, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1861, →OCLC:]
  • We still had a big pay-day coming to us, and for thirty-seven days, without a drink to addle our mental processes, we incessantly planned the spending of our money. [1913 August, Jack London, John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC:]
  • “Oh, leave that silly old book alone. It can’t be good for you always reading. You’ll addle your brain, that’s what you’ll do, Philip.” [1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:]
  • [Niccolò] Machiavelli had received an early lesson in the value of addling men's brains. […] [A] talent for addling men's brains is part of the armoury of any successful prince […]. [2000, Quentin Skinner, “The Adviser to Princes”, in Nigel Warburton, Jon Pike, Derek Matravers, editors, Reading Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Mill, Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge in association with The Open University, →ISBN, page 30:]
  • Has Peppa Pig addled my brain – or is it a critique on capitalism? [title] [2020 March 8, Séamas O’Reilly, “Has Peppa Pig addled my brain – or is it a critique on capitalism?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:]
  • Words can addle, the propagandist knows, even in their absence. [2025 February 27, Megan Garber, “Control. Alt. Delete.”, in The Atlantic:]
  • Their eggs were addled. [1782, William Cowper, Pairing Time Anticipated:]
  • The term shocking or addling trout and salmon eggs is applied to the process of turning the infertile eggs white so they can be separated from the fertile ones. Actually, this amounts to nothing more than agitating the eggs enough to rupture the yolk membrane in the infertile eggs, which causes them to turn white. [1980, Earl Leitritz with Robert C[onklin] Lewis, Trout and Salmon Culture (Hatchery Methods) [California Fish Bulletin; 164], Oakland, Calif.: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, →ISBN, page 61:]