mess up
phrasal verb
messed up; messing up; messes up
informal
: to make a mistake : to do something incorrectly
About halfway into the recipe, I realized that I had messed up, and I had to start over.
—often + onShe's afraid she'll mess up on the test.
I messed up on my first attempt.
Examples of mess up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Because nobody’s doing it; not even the government, which is messed up.
—
Jason Newman, Rolling Stone, 9 July 2024
The Red Sox messed up another double play opportunity in the fifth, but nothing came of it.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 6 July 2024
Nobody wants to get fired, nobody wants to mess up.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 June 2024
Smith filed the photos in response to an argument from Trump that the criminal charges against him should be dismissed because investigators messed up the precise order of the boxes’ contents.
—Devlin Barrett, Washington Post, 25 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for mess up 
Jason Newman, Rolling Stone, 9 July 2024
The Red Sox messed up another double play opportunity in the fifth, but nothing came of it.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 6 July 2024
Nobody wants to get fired, nobody wants to mess up.
—Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 June 2024
Smith filed the photos in response to an argument from Trump that the criminal charges against him should be dismissed because investigators messed up the precise order of the boxes’ contents.
—Devlin Barrett, Washington Post, 25 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for mess up
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mess up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 26 Jul. 2024.
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