MESSES AROUND Synonyms: 116 Similar and Opposite Words

messes around

verb

present tense third-person singular of mess around

as in plays

to spend time in aimless activity spent the vacation day just messing around

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in flirts

to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in travels

to come or be together as friends if you continue to mess around with such narrow-minded boobs, you'll begin to think and act like them

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of messes around Other standouts include a Maybelline mascara and a Black and Decker handheld vacuum, which makes quick work of small messes around the house and in the car. — Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for messes around

Verb

Berglund is a big, heavy center who plays a hard, detailed two-way game.

— Corey Pronman, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
The trio also saw how coffee plays a central role in Chicago’s bakery culture, and their beverage program features local makers Sparrow Coffee and Spirit Tea.

— Carly Boers, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of plays

Verb

Hal flirts with Kerry; John has an affair with Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), the wife of William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), a local cattle mogul whose compound has more high tech weaponry than a mere human would seem to need.

— Alison Herman, Variety, 14 Aug. 2026
Rachel dates a shoe store operator named Lou (Bob Hoskins), while Charlotte nurses a crush on her handsome young school bus driver and flirts with Catholicism to the chagrin of her Jewish mother.

— David Faris, TheWeek, 17 July 2026

Definition of flirts

Verb

But the moon's low gravity — around 17% that of Earth — means the dust that an impact stirs up travels a long way and takes a long time to settle, McDowell said.

— Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 14 Aug. 2026
Watch On In 15th-century Japan, Ashitaka (Yoji Matsuda), the prince of a dying kingdom called Emishi, is infected by a forest demon and travels west searching for a forest god that provides a cure.

— David Faris, TheWeek, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of travels

Verb

Though the sisters are supposedly first-generation Italian American, no whiff of the old country hangs about Kay; Dorothy will at least spit out a few words in Italian.

— Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026
Turquoise pearl, and azure line the space, and a cylindrical hanging light sculpture made of hundreds of white and gold ceramic fish hangs about the lounge seating area.

— Kristin Braswell, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Jan. 2026

Definition of hangs about

Verb

What being Southern meant to his father—and the values Duane associates with being a Southern gentleman.

— Sid Evans, Southern Living, 11 Aug. 2026
The productivity boom everyone associates with the personal computer didn’t actually show up in the macro data until 15 years after the PC was commercialized.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 July 2026

Definition of associates

Verb

Tony contains details directly pulled from Kitchen Confidential, including a memorable moment in which one of the cooks (Leo Woodall) hooks up with a bride who visits the restaurant immediately following her own wedding.

— Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 7 Aug. 2026
And Cody still comes out before the season starts and takes BP, hooks up the kids with some Nike stuff.

— Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 17 July 2026

Definition of hooks up

Verb

The athlete had a rare cancer known as nasopharyngeal cancer, which affects the tissue that connects the back of the nose to the back of the mouth, per Cleveland Clinic.

— Julie Tremaine, PEOPLE, 16 Aug. 2026
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, is located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, connects the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the Red Sea and, farther north, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

— Efrat Lachter, FOXNews.com, 16 Aug. 2026

Definition of connects

Verb

Gaby bonds with a new, albeit reluctant, patient, Maya (Sherry Cola), only to be devastated when Maya takes her own life.

— Maureen Lee Lenker, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2026
In the film, Field portrays Tova, the cleaning lady who bonds with the somewhat cranky Marcellus, an octopus wise behind his years, in Netflix’s screen adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling novel.

— Denise Petski, Deadline, 8 July 2026

Definition of bonds

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messes

messes around

messes over

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“Messes around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messes%20around. Accessed 21 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of messes around

verb

Example Sentences

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