mess
Americannoun
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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)
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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
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messsimple
-
messessimple
-
have messedperfect
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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:
In short, the offensive line was a mess.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
The EU’s new, electronic entry-exit system is a mess, except when it isn’t.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
“I just quit. I don’t want to mess with the therapist anymore,” Beaman told us this spring.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Over time, they turn into an anxious mess, needing validation from the black-box algorithmic number.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Things were a mess too, as if they had left the place in a hurry.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
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
Built in part from five years of therapy notes, the album finds Smith revisiting moments of struggle, recovery and, as he puts it, "all the sort of messes in between".
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
Inside, the dwelling features a traditional beach cottage aesthetic, with bright white walls, exposed wooden beams, and wood flooring—ideal for preventing any sandy messes after a long day on the beach.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
The president sometimes messes with the reporters on the line or lets people around him eavesdrop on speakerphone.
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2026
“Rue, don’t read that stuff. It just messes with your head.”
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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
Because her whole life, she’s been told, ‘You’re wrong, you’ve messed up, you’ve got things wrong.’
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
If they messed up, which many did, they had to raise their arms and say “Ta-da!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
“I backed up on my first two attempts at 6-9 and that messed me up,” Harel said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
“I feel like we totally messed this up. We should let Max see his friend one last time.”
From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
"The shares have been going up so radically it keeps messing up my life plans - you really can't know the future, so it's better to sell early and in intervals."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Right now, however, he looks like a kid who spent the morning messing around with his friends.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“I just love messing around with different instruments and seeing all the different sounds I can make,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
“I hate messing up in front of people,” she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
He stopped himself there—his sleepiness must have been messing with his head.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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.
