mess

1 of 2

noun

ˈmes

Synonyms of mess next

: a quantity of food:

archaic : food set on a table at one time

: a prepared dish of soft food

also : a mixture of ingredients cooked or eaten together

: enough food of a specified kind for a dish or a meal

picked a mess of peas for dinner

: a group of persons who regularly take their meals together

every officer with a unit … is obliged to belong to a mess—

S. G. Maurice

also : a meal so taken

: a place where meals are regularly served to a group : mess hall

The soldiers marched to the mess for breakfast.

: a disordered, untidy, offensive, or unpleasant state or condition

your room is in a mess

: one that is disordered, untidy, offensive, or unpleasant usually because of blundering, laxity, or misconduct

[the movie] is a mess, as sloppy in concept as it is in execution—

Judith Crist

: a large quantity or number

They're in a mess of trouble.

mess

2 of 2

verb

messed; messing; messes

transitive verb

: to provide with meals at a mess

: to make dirty or untidy : disarrange

—often used with up

don't mess up your room

: to mix up : bungle

—often used with up

really messed up my life

: to interfere with

—often used with up

magnetic storms that mess up communications—

Time

: to rough up : manhandle

—often used with up

mess him up good so he won't cheat us again

intransitive verb

: to take meals with a mess

: to make a mess

: putter, trifle

children like to mess around with paints

: to handle or play with something especially carelessly

don't mess with my camera

—often used with around

: to take an active interest in something or someone

messing around with new video techniques

also : interfere, meddle

messing in other people's affairs

you'd better not mess with me

: to become confused or make an error

—usually used with up

Examples of mess in a Sentence

Noun He was a mess after gardening all day. My hair is a mess. Well, that's another fine mess you've gotten me into! How do we get ourselves into these messes? The school system is a mess. Things were a real mess for a while after she retired. My life is a complete mess. She was a real mess for a while after her divorce. He was a mess during his daughter's wedding ceremony. Verb please don't mess with me while I'm trying to concentrate See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

All of the models came out and danced along, a pulsating mess of smiles and flowing fabrics. —

Harry Hill, ELLE, 9 Sep. 2023 The house is currently used as the main officers’ mess for RAF Halton, one of the largest air force stations in the United Kingdom. —

Rachel Silva, ELLE Decor, 8 Sep. 2023 The dish ended by leaking into the bag and turning much of our packaging into a soggy mess. —

Mara Severin | Eating Out, Anchorage Daily News, 7 Sep. 2023 Putting out a fire early can mean the difference between a small, smoky mess and widespread wreckage. —

Roy Berendsohn, Popular Mechanics, 7 Sep. 2023 What should have been a light summer romp is a boring mess. —

Dallasnews.com Staff, Dallas News, 7 Sep. 2023 Aside from limiting the ability to explore the city—and creating a muddy mess outside my tent—the weather didn’t impact my quality of life too much. —

Emma Specter, Vogue, 7 Sep. 2023 The hurricane has already caused a mess for some travelers. —

Nathan Diller, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2023 Prevent an unsightly mess by painting the interior charcoal black, as seen in this bright coastal living room. —

Hadley Mendelsohn, House Beautiful, 30 Aug. 2023

Verb

Storms intensify when there's nothing else messing them up, Bourassa said. —

Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 9 Sep. 2023 She has been put in charge of dessert and inevitably messes it up, causing everyone to pretend to like her half English Trifle, half Shepherd's Pie creation. —

House Beautiful, 7 Sep. 2023 Using it correctly is unsatisfying, and messing it up is maddening. —

Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 30 Aug. 2023 Binns has always taken a Dadaist approach and aesthetic—break it all down to bring it back together; mess it up to elicit a strange kind of beauty. —

Mark Holgate, Vogue, 23 Aug. 2023 The man clearly does not mess in the fitness department. —

Alexis Jones, Women's Health, 16 Aug. 2023 Perhaps sheer momentum and incumbency will preserve Twitter’s status as the de facto public forum no matter how much its owner messes it up. —

Michael Muchmore, PCMAG, 6 July 2023 His skills have their charms, too: When potential romance comes a-knocking in the form of a journalist, Iris West (Kiersey Clemons), Barry can tidy up his bachelor pad (but also mess it up again) in record time. —

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 15 June 2023 But the second-generation Italian-American son is worried that his first-generation Italian immigrant father will mess things up with his exuberant ways. —

Lawrence Specker | Lspecker@al.com, al, 25 May 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mess.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English mes, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin missus course at a meal, from missus, past participle of mittere to put, from Latin, to send — more at smite

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of mess was in the 14th century

See more words from the same century