mess up
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mess
(mĕs)n.
1.
a. A cluttered, untidy, usually dirty place or condition: The kitchen was a mess.
b. Something that is disorderly or dirty, as a accumulation or heap: Who left the mess on the kitchen floor?
2.
a. A confused, troubling, or embarrassing condition or situation: With divorce and bankruptcy proceedings pending, his personal life was in a mess.
b. One that is in such a condition: They made a mess of their marriage. Her boyfriend is a real mess.
3.
a. An amount of food, as for a meal, course, or dish: cooked up a mess of fish.
b. A serving of soft, semiliquid food: a mess of porridge.
4.
a. A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.
b. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.
c. A mess hall.
v. messed, mess·ing, mess·es
v.tr.
To make disorderly or dirty: The wind has messed your hair. The puppy messed the floor.
v.intr.
Phrasal Verbs: 1. To cause or make a mess.
2. To intrude; interfere: messing in the neighbors' affairs.
3. To take a meal in a military mess.
mess around (or about)
1. To pass time aimlessly or frivolously.
2. To associate casually or playfully: liked to mess around with pals on days off.
3. To be sexually unfaithful.
mess up
1. To botch; bungle: messed up the entire project.
2. To make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion: messed up and dropped the ball.
3. Slang To beat up; manhandle: got messed up in a brawl.
4. To cause to be confused or troubled: The divorce really messed him up.
mess with
1. To use or handle something carelessly; fiddle: messed with the remote until he broke it.
2. To fight or get into conflict with: I wouldn't mess with him—he knows judo.
3. To tease or play a joke on: Don't let that remark bother you—she's just messing with you.
[Middle English mes, course of a meal, food, group of people eating together, from Old French, from Late Latin missus, from Latin, past participle of mittere, to place.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
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| Verb | 1. |  mess up - make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement" |
| 2. |  mess up - disturb the smoothness of; "ruffle the surface of the water"disarrange - destroy the arrangement or order of; "My son disarranged the papers on my desk" | |
| 3. |  mess up - make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
mess
noun1. A group of things gathered haphazardly:
2. A lack of order or regular arrangement:
chaos, clutter, confusedness, confusion, derangement, disarrangement, disarray, disorder, disorderedness, disorderliness, disorganization, jumble, mix-up, muddle, muss, scramble, topsy-turviness, tumble.
Slang: snafu.
3. A ruinous state of disorder:
Informal: hash.
4. An unsightly object:
1. To handle something idly, ignorantly, or destructively:
Informal: monkey.
mess around
1. Informal. To waste time by engaging in aimless activity:
Informal: fool around.
3. Informal. To be sexually unfaithful to another:
mess up
1. To harm irreparably through inept handling; make a mess:
ball up, blunder, boggle, botch, bungle, foul up, fumble, gum up, mishandle, mismanage, muddle, muff, spoil.
Idiom: make a muck of.
2. To put into total disorder:
Slang: snafu.
Idiom: play havoc with.
3. To put out of proper order:
4. Slang. To be rough or brutal with:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
يُخْطِئُيُفْسِد، يُسَبِّب الفَوْضى
obrátit vzhůru nohamazpackat
lave uorden iødelægge
sotkea
uništiti
rendetlenséget csinál
setja á annan endann, umturna
散らかす
망쳐놓다
obrátiť hore nohami
stöka till
ทำให้ยุ่งเหยิง
kirletmekaltını üstüne getirmek
làm rối tung
w>mess up
vt sep → durcheinanderbringen; (= make dirty) → verdrecken; (= botch, bungle) → verpfuschen, verhunzen (inf); marriage → kaputt machen (inf), → ruinieren; life, person → verkorksen (inf); person (as regards looks) → übel zurichten; missing the connection messed up the whole journey → dadurch, dass wir den Anschluss verpassten, lief die ganze Reise schief; her visit really messed me up (inf) → ihr Besuch hat mir wirklich alles vermasselt (inf); that’s really messed things up → das hat wirklich alles verdorben or vermasselt (inf)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
mess
(mes) noun a state of disorder or confusion; an untidy, dirty or unpleasant sight or muddle. This room is in a terrible mess!; She looked a mess; The spilt food made a mess on the carpet.
verb (with with) to meddle, or to have something to do with. She's always messing with the television set.
ˈmessy adjective dirty. a messy job.
ˈmessily adverbˈmessiness noun
ˈmess-up noun
a muddle or state of confusion. There has been a mess-up in the timetable.
make a mess of1. to make dirty, untidy or confused. The heavy rain has made a real mess of the garden.
2. to do badly. He made a mess of his essay.
3. to spoil or ruin (eg one's life). He made a mess of his life by drinking too much.
mess about/around1. to behave in a foolish or annoying way. The children were shouting and messing about.
2. to work with no particular plan in a situation that involves mess. I love messing about in the kitchen.
3. (with with) to meddle or interfere with. Who's been messing about with my papers?
4. to upset or put into a state of disorder or confusion. The wind messed her hair about.
mess up to spoil; to make a mess of. Don't mess the room up!
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
mess up
→ يُخْطِئُ zpackat ødelægge verpfuschen κάνω άνω κάτω echar a perder, estropear sotkea mettre en désordre uništiti scompigliare 散らかす 망쳐놓다 in de war sturen skitne til nabałaganić estragar испортить(ся) stöka till ทำให้ยุ่งเหยิง kirletmek làm rối tung 搞糟Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009