messily
Americanadverb
Etymology
Origin of messily
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.
It’s a Sheridan, “Landman” kind of TV world, and a lot of powerful people hope we’ll get hooked on how messily it unfolds.
From Salon • Nov. 16, 2025
It was a bottom-up process, messily divided between three distinct code-making organizations until the 1990s, when the International Code Council was created.
From Slate • Feb. 28, 2025
The scene devolves into what looks like a giant, three-dimensional Rubik’s Cube, with individuals at the center of each quadrant spinning, messily, in different directions — all peppered with a healthy dose of laughter.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2023
The writer-director Alexis Jacknow incorporates these and more, messily so, in her Hulu feature “Clock.”
From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023
She was dressed in her painting smock, her hair pinned messily in gold barrettes, staring at her latest collage with a paintbrush and a piece of yarn in her hand.
From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour
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.
