mess up

verb

messed up; messing up; messes up
Synonyms of mess upnext
informal
: to make a mistake : to do something incorrectly
About halfway into the recipe, I realized that I had messed up, and I had to start over.
—often + on
She's afraid she'll mess up on the test.
I messed up on my first attempt.

Examples of mess up in a Sentence

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And yet, besieged by the same afflictions of greed, self-interest and a comical inability to work together, horse racing is doing its damndest to similarly mess up its very good thing. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 5 Aug. 2026 Or maybe Beard is just all messed up because of some as-yet unexplained tension with his wife, Jane. — Michael Schneider, Variety, 5 Aug. 2026 Soon, however, she is forced to face the horrifying reality that even the most disciplined can mess up. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 29 July 2026 No one talks about how bad Washington’s defense is, or how Mike Evans getting injured messed up the Bucs offense, or how Flacco’s beard almost reaches up to his eyes. — Darren Cooper, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for mess up

Rhymes for mess up

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Browse Nearby Words

messuage
mess up
mess with
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 12 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on mess up

Nglish: Translation of mess up for Spanish Speakers

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