hot mess
Americannoun
Usage
What does hot mess mean? Hot mess is used to describe a particularly disorganized person or chaotic situation. In some uses, a person described as a hot mess is attractive but just barely keeping it together.
Etymology
Origin of hot mess
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
The whole season was a hot mess, though you wouldn’t have known it, talking to Nico.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
Since the start of the Iran war, the conventional wisdom has been that the whole thing is a hot mess.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 11, 2026
The film closes with a Vance voice-over explaining that “we choose every day who we become,” a statement that feels like it is pointed directly at the “choices” of hot mess Bev.
From Salon • Jul. 20, 2024
"They were shocked, like, 'oh my god we were expecting this to be a hot mess but your brain is pristine'," added Rousey.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2024
I look a hot mess in a few of them.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
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.
