hot mess

noun

plural hot messes

1

informal : something or someone that is emphatically a mess: such as

a

: something that is disastrously bad or chaotic (as due to mishandling or misconduct)

My life was a hot mess.

His latest outing, to a hot mess of a boutique hotel in New Mexico, is just as full of withering asides and bleeped-out F-bombs.

—TV Guide

b

: a disorganized, disheveled, or self-destructive person

She's a hard-drinking hot mess who scavenges the streets for castoff furniture and clothing that she spruces up and sometimes sells; how she survives in contemporary Los Angeles is one of the movie's biggest mysteries.

—Sheri Linden

also : such a person who is at the same time attractive or sexy

However, Everett actually is a hot mess when she performs. Her stage presence is erotic and chaotic, her big blond body wrapped in something low-cut and sheer.

—Molly Adams

2

archaic

a

: a hot dish especially of soft or pulpy food

… there was a stove over which our guides made a hot mess of flour and water which passed for soup.

—Edwin Swift Balch

b

: a hot mixture of ingredients cooked or eaten together

They were supping or breakfasting together off a hot mess of meat and vegetables …

—Henry Vizetelly

Examples of hot mess in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Ultimately, that’s why this race is a hot mess — none of the candidates, Republican or Democrat, have offered a vision inspiring enough to make voters want to trust them with the next four or eight years. —Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr. 2026

We first encounter Anna, a bit of a hot mess who hops from one house-sitting gig to the next in New York City. —Alexandra Jhamb Burns, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Apr. 2026

Clean Up Your Mess To be fair, some booths at antiques stores are a hot mess, with junk piled high like bric-a-brac Jenga. —Josh Miller, Southern Living, 6 Apr. 2026

This is a man who shows up at a bank with two dubious associates — the glowering, hair-trigger Sal (Moss-Bachrach) and, until his stomach gives out, the wobbling hot mess Ray-Ray (Christopher Sears) — and a bunch of guns. —Sara Holdren, Vulture, 31 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1772, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Rhymes for hot mess

• abbess
• abscess
• access
• address
• assess
• caress
• confess
• depress
• digress
• distress
• egress
• excess

Video

Hot Mess

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings