mess
a dirty, untidy, or disordered condition: The room was in a mess.
a person or thing that is dirty, untidy, or disordered.
a state of embarrassing confusion: My affairs are in a mess.
an unpleasant or difficult situation: She got into a mess driving without a license.
a dirty or untidy mass, litter, or jumble: a mess of papers.
a group regularly taking their meals together.
the meal so taken.
Naval. messroom.
a quantity of food sufficient for a dish or a single occasion: to pick a mess of sweet corn for dinner.
a sloppy or unappetizing preparation of food.
a dish or quantity of soft or liquid food: to cook up a nice mess of pottage.
a person whose life or affairs are in a state of confusion, especially a person with a confused or disorganized moral or psychological outlook.
to make dirty or untidy (often followed by up): Don't mess the room.
to make a mess or muddle of (affairs, responsibilities, etc.) (often followed by up): They messed the deal.
to supply with meals, as military personnel.
to treat roughly; beat up (usually followed by up): The gang messed him up.
to eat in company, especially as a member of a mess.
to make a dirty or untidy mess.
mess around / about
Informal. to busy oneself without purpose or plan; work aimlessly or halfheartedly; putter.
Informal. to waste time; loaf.
Informal. to meddle or interfere.
Informal. to involve or associate oneself, especially for immoral or unethical purposes: His wife accused him of messing around with gamblers.
Slang. to trifle sexually; philander.
mess in / with to intervene officiously; meddle: You'll get no thanks for messing in the affairs of others.
Origin of mess
1Other words for mess
Opposites for mess
1 | tidiness, order |
14 | arrange, neaten, tidy |
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mess in a sentence
Now she needs an economic plan, she needs serious donors, and she needs to stop messing up facts.
Her worst fear, she confessed early on, was "messing up in a TV interview."
Geraldine Ferraro Dies: Memories of Her 1984 Campaign | Lynn Sherr | March 26, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTMessing up on the job is one thing, but meddling in your boss' personal life as if you were his mother is another.
Robert Seguso took on the biggest referee of them all after messing up an easy midcourt shot during the 1991 Davis Cup.
I'm hoping we will get our work done before they get poking their noses into it and messing up all the trails.
The Valley of Fear | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I expect the lake is flooding the whole place and messing up everything from our cellar to the chickenhouse.
The Thing from the Lake | Eleanor M. IngramI have jumbled memories of messing up on the ledge, and then half swamping just below it, on my former run.
Down the Yellowstone | Lewis R. FreemanI'd say Masters is playing safe keeping him from messing up the running gear while we're discharging.
The Man in the Twilight | Ridgwell CullumShe only succeeded in burning her wrist badly, and making the deaf Hannah say she didn't want a lady messing up her kitchen.
The Vehement Flame | Margaret Wade Campbell Deland
British Dictionary definitions for mess
/ (mɛs) /
a state of confusion or untidiness, esp if dirty or unpleasant: the house was in a mess
a chaotic or troublesome state of affairs; muddle: his life was a mess
informal a dirty or untidy person or thing
archaic a portion of food, esp soft or semiliquid food
a place where service personnel eat or take recreation: an officers' mess
a group of people, usually servicemen, who eat together
the meal so taken
mess of pottage a material gain involving the sacrifice of a higher value
(tr often foll by up) to muddle or dirty
(intr) to make a mess
(intr often foll by with) to interfere; meddle
(intr; often foll by with or together) military to group together, esp for eating
Origin of mess
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with mess
In addition to the idioms beginning with mess
- mess around
- mess up
- mess with
also see:
- get into trouble (a mess)
- make a hash (mess) of
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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