mess-up
noun
a blunder; state of confusion; mix-up.
mess-up
American
[mes-uhp]
/ ˈmɛsˌʌp /
noun
-
mess-ups
plural
mess up
Idioms
-
Create disorder in; muddle or ruin. For example, On rainy days the children really mess up the house , or He had a way of messing up his own business . [c. 1900]
-
Make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion, as in He messed up and took the wrong dossier to the meeting , or Jill swore she would never mess up again . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]
-
Beat up, manhandle, as in Joe got messed up in a barroom brawl . [ Slang ; early 1900s]
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mess-up
First recorded in 1900–05; noun use of verb phrase mess up
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"What Alan Garten did here is a pretty significant mess-up and again, as you just appropriately stated, it corroborates everything that I said."
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2023
"But it's different for each mess-up, you know?!"
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2021
Nick Faldo has a pretty eye-opening mess-up right off the bat on the telecast.
From Golf Digest ● Apr. 10, 2020
And, although I was just a bit-player in the story, the film dramatises a monumental mess-up on my behalf – the biggest mistake of my career.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 27, 2019
The man I knew chucked up his business and left his home and risked his life because everybody was doing it, because it seemed there was a real mess-up, because one had to.
From Nonsenseorship by G. G. Putnam
“What happens if I mess up or something?” he asked.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
"I've been in a daze ever since I saw the announcement. Until more information comes out, I need to be careful not to mess up my daily life from overthinking," wrote X user Yachi.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Aromatics, herbs and spices: This is where things become delightfully difficult to mess up.
From Salon ● Jun. 16, 2026
“I like to have my little secret area where I can mess up as many times as I want without any eyes on me.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
His old nemesis, the lieutenant, was watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to mess up.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Given the current state of AI and agents’ high-profile mess-ups, Palantir’s slop focus isn’t ungrounded in facts.
From Barron's ● May 6, 2026
The new update still produced some single-word mess-ups, while the older software had more gibberish phrases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026
“This game might be a record for me, for mess-ups, and still winning,” Tide coach Nick Saban told reporters.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2023
No room for mess-ups, and if you do, the show must go on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2023
It let me listen to myself, so I could correct mess-ups and smooth out the hard sections.
From "Blended" by Sharon M. Draper
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
