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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Getting a better estimate for how frequent and widespread eruptions have been will help scientists refine their models for how the planet evolved into such a hot mess. —Carolyn Y. Johnson, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Mar. 2023

On Monday, Christian Wood, who provides a hot hand at one end and a hot mess at the other, also sat with foot soreness. —Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 14 Mar. 2023

But when it's disrupted, your skin can look and feel like a hot mess. —April Benshosan, Women's Health, 23 Feb. 2023

The result: a hot mess of drama and a potential harbinger for future Netflix #content. —Joshua St. Clair, Men's Health, 15 Feb. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1772, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Video

Hot Mess

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings