mess about
Britishverb
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(intr) to occupy oneself trivially; potter
-
to interfere or meddle (with)
-
to engage in adultery
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.
"I'm a chilled guy until people mess about with me," Whyte reflected the next day.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2025
“He’s a very rich character to play. He’s a complex, contradictory, troubled human who’s got these extraordinary abilities, so there’s potent stuff to mess about with,” Cumberbatch said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2025
Intended mostly as B-movies, they don’t mess about.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2020
Being a hot mess about homework in late middle and early high school is a time-honored tradition, and your teenagers are engaged in two of its most classic variations.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2020
If we mess about with that pattern, all kinds of things can go wrong.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
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.
