muck-up

[muhk-uhp]

noun

Informal.

1. a bungled or disordered situation; foul-up.

muck up

verb

1. (tr) to ruin or spoil; make a mess of

2. (intr) to misbehave

Word History and Origins

Origin of muck up¹

First recorded in 1925–30; noun use of verb phrase muck up

Idioms and Phrases

Bungle, damage, make a mess of, as in Don't let him write the review; he's sure to muck it up. This idiom alludes to the verb muck in the sense of “spread manure on.” [Early 1900s] For a synonym, see foul up.

Example Sentences

But the president’s mishandling of the coronavirus has been not one discrete choice but a rolling, catastrophic muck-up.

From Washington Post

Not even the best picture muck-up during the 2017 Academy Awards could compare to the devastation that the comedian/game show host/relationship advice huckster inflicted upon Columbian contestant and eventual runner-up Ariadna Gutierrez, who saw her life-long dream come true, only for it to be ripped away a few moments later.

From The Guardian

“If it was an alien spacecraft, it was the Brexit of alien spacecraft. It was a complete muck-up,” says Fitzsimmons.

From The Verge

I think the IOC made a complete muck-up of it.

From BBC

“Mayoral leadership is very visible, it’s about walking down the street and somebody saying ‘you’ve made a right muck-up of that’.

From The Guardian

Related Words

• agitate 
• alarm 
• bewilder 
• bother 
• confound 
• daunt 
• disconcert 
• discourage 
• dishearten 
• disillusion 
• dispirit 
• disquiet 
• disturb 
• dumbfound 
• embarrass 
• faze 
• flummox 
• fluster 
• frighten 
• horrify