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• mess-up
  mess-up

  noun

  a blunder; state of confusion; mix-up.
• mess up
  mess up

  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]

mess-up

American  

[mes-uhp] / ˈmɛsˌʌp /

noun

• mess-ups
  plural

1. a blunder; state of confusion; mix-up.

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mess up Idioms  

1. 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]

2. 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]

3. Beat up, manhandle, as in Joe got messed up in a barroom brawl . [ Slang ; early 1900s]

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mess-ups
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mess-up

First recorded in 1900–05; noun use of verb phrase mess up

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mess-up mess up mess-ups

"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

His wife Margaret said it was a "total mess-up" and said they felt "sick and very, very angry".

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2020

Nick Faldo has a pretty eye-opening mess-up right off the bat on the telecast.

From Golf Digest ● Apr. 10, 2020

But I’m hoping to be surprised this year — just not in the same way as last year’s mess-up.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2018

Happened once before, without this mess-up of the signs.

From The Sky Is Falling by Lester Del Rey

AI can mess up, and the stakes are higher when they’re acting in your name.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

“I’d rather mess up naturally than not mess up unnaturally.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

"Just don't mess up," he said, in a succinct piece of management advice.

From BBC ● Jul. 3, 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

A mistake-a-nator that would light up red if you’re about to mess up.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

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

When I asked if he had trained his team to avoid such mess-ups, Soto-Martinez nodded.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2023

“So the mess-ups we’ve seen this past week,” he added, “I think we’re going to see over and over and over again.”

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2018

A neat desk couldn’t disguise the inside of her notebook, which was a jumble of half-finished work, scratch-outs, and mess-ups.

From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper

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