mess around

verb

messed around; messing around; messes around

intransitive verb

1

: to waste time : dawdle, idle

2

a

: associate

didn't mess around with gangs

b

: flirt, philander

Synonyms of mess around

• play
• fool around
• goof (around)
• fiddle (around)
• hang about
• putter (around)
• potter (around)
• monkey (around)
• kick around

Examples of mess around in a Sentence

spent the vacation day just messing around

a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women

Recent Examples on the Web

The constraint of the task encourages a deeper looking, and gives us, part of a society suspicious of aimless activity, an excuse to mess around and explore a strange world. — Joseph Ogilvy, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Oct. 2026

Godrich likens his approach to inviting friends over to come and mess around in the kitchen. — Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 8 Oct. 2026

There will be no more messing around with draggy eye pencils or the emperor’s new eye shadows. — Elizabeth Siegel, Allure, 17 Sep. 2026

But then Jeanty had to mess around and heal and whatnot, which was really quite rude. — Gary Davenport, New York Times, 15 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1918, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for mess around

• aboveground
• battleground
• belowground
• paperbound
• turnaround
• ultrasound
• underground
• wraparound
• abound
• aground
• astound
• background