Please define "cloudy water"

[AnnaK]

I see this in many threads: "My water is cloudy."

Sometimes, it means you can't see the bottom; other times, there's a "green tinge", or "white stuff floating in the water". And often it turns out the water is sparkling clear but "brown dust comes up when I brush".

This is only my second summer with the pool and I'm always learning. I think I have a pretty clean pool, good numbers and a pleasant feel to the water. I've never (yet) had pea soup or a swamp or cloudy water -- I don't think, anyway. But yes, when I brush the bottom, there's some dusty stuff that billows up now and then. Is that what's meant by "cloudy water"? And if so, what am I not doing that I should be doing to avoid it?

Or is that the sort of dead algae debris one would expect in a pool?