mess
Americannoun
-
messes
plural
-
a dirty, untidy, or disordered condition.
The room was in a mess.
- Antonyms:
- order
-
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.
- Synonyms:
- pickle, plight, predicament
-
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.
verb (used with object)
-
messes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
messed,
past participle, past
-
messing
present participle
-
to make dirty or untidy (often followed byup ).
Don't mess the room.
-
to make a mess or muddle of (affairs, responsibilities, etc.) (often followed byup ).
They messed the deal.
-
to supply with meals, as military personnel.
-
to treat roughly; beat up (usually followed byup ).
The gang messed him up.
verb (used without object)
-
messes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
messed,
past participle, past
-
messing
present participle
-
to eat in company, especially as a member of a mess.
-
to make a dirty or untidy mess.
verb phrase
-
mess up
-
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.
noun
-
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
-
a material gain involving the sacrifice of a higher value
verb
-
to muddle or dirty
-
(intr) to make a mess
-
to interfere; meddle
-
(intr; often foll by with or together) military to group together, esp for eating
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
messsimple
-
messessimple
-
have messedperfect
-
has messedperfect
-
am messingprogressive
-
are messingprogressive
-
is messingprogressive
-
have been messingperfect progressive
-
has been messingperfect progressive
Past
-
messedsimple
-
had messedperfect
-
was messingprogressive
-
were messingprogressive
-
had been messingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mess
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mes, from Old French: “course at a meal,” from Late Latin missus “(something) sent” (i.e., put on the table), noun use of past participle of Latin mittere “to send”
Explanation
A mess is a generally dirty state, like your bedroom, your hair, or anything else that's untidy. If you make a huge mess when you cook, you probably try to get someone else to do the clean-up. In addition to describing a jumble of stuff, mess can describe a confused or difficult situation, like the mess your finances are in if you have seven credit cards. When you mess something up, you cause disorder and maybe even wreck something, like a friendship you messed up by gossiping. And you might eat in a mess hall, a cafeteria for members of the armed forces — and it's probably very neat and orderly, not messy.
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:
Threets often thanks his fans for “staying” on social platforms including Threads, Instagram and TikTok, and comments on the “human world” being a mess.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
“Trust me, you don’t want to mess with any of us.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
"I think this is gonna mess with everybody's heads," said Fry.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
"It started with me mixing a bunch of random stuff. My mum used to always be shouting at me saying 'stop, that's making a mess’."
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
We could use a mess of fish with Charlie around.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
“When private planes are coming, the tower has to let them land—despite the commercial scheduling—and it messes people up,” says Fletcher, wearing a dapper suit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Meta settles teen safety suit, the U.S.-Canada trade war escalates, and Scott Bessent messes around in the markets again.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
Wallace’s teammates — who clearly are enamored with his energy as a two-way player — like to playfully make fun of him, on the rare occasion he messes up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
“People end up in the hospital all the time due to that, and it messes up medicine management too.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
He messes up all the words and I laugh.
From "Finding Langston" by Lesa Cline-Ransome
“That messed with my head a little bit.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The tacos had not, at that point, been messed with.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026
“If I messed up, what would people think of me? What would Mom say? I knew it wouldn’t be good.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
It’s going to be easier for people who messed up on their taxes to get back in the good graces of the IRS.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
“I mean . . . do you think he ruined the timeline, being here? Or maybe we messed it up too?”
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
It doesn’t mean that the fight or the messing up or whatever is the end of the story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Ben Lidgey was "messing around" with his son in the garden when he was accidentally kicked in the testicles - but it may well have saved his life.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Flavio issued fierce denials as Lula took to the campaign trail clutching a statue of the saint, declaring that "messing" with her was "unacceptable."
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
“We’ve got to be messing up the exchange rate or something, right?” the Virginia theater fan recalls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
And if I ever got frustrated about messing up, she’d say, “This is supposed to be fun, Gracie. Just enjoy it!”
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
