hot mess

noun

plural hot messes

1

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

a

: something in a state of extreme disorder or disarray

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 Lindenn

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, and rose up at our entrance, for the room boasted of a wooden bench and couple of ricketty stools.

—Henry Vizetelly

Examples of hot mess in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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, 24 Apr. 2025

The leak seems especially likely given that the Until Dawn movie just hit theaters and appears to be a hot mess. —Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025

My theory on why the app remains a hot mess, even with Amazon’s resources: This is what the folks at Amazon HQ in Seattle want. —Josef Adalian, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2025

Each episode has been drama-filled and has turned into a hot mess with all of the plot twists. —Giana Levy, refinery29.com, 29 Oct. 2024

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