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
This sort of scenario could explain Saturn’s young, ice-rich rings, as well as the bizarre properties of Enceladus, without messing up the properties of the other Saturnian moons.
—
Big Think, 9 Oct. 2025
Sweatpants with an adjustable waistband won’t cause discomfort while sitting for long hours during your flight, and the half-zip sweatshirt is easy to put on or take off without messing up your hair.
—Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 6 Oct. 2025
And so the worry is that the AI can stick to the story very effectively and never mess up.
—Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
There's a reason the host was messing up player names.
—Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Big Think, 9 Oct. 2025
Sweatpants with an adjustable waistband won’t cause discomfort while sitting for long hours during your flight, and the half-zip sweatshirt is easy to put on or take off without messing up your hair.
—Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 6 Oct. 2025
And so the worry is that the AI can stick to the story very effectively and never mess up.
—Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
There's a reason the host was messing up player names.
—Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
Cite this Entry
“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share