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
Crucially, if the AI messes up, users can still go into ReelSphere to edit information.
—
Emilia David, The Verge, 11 Apr. 2024
When their strike was over, sanitation workers cleaned the mess up themselves.
—Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
And for our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up.
—Rebecca Cohen, NBC News, 4 Apr. 2024
Industrialized engineering solutions have messed up the whole water system globally.
—Matt Simon, WIRED, 15 Mar. 2024
Life will always offer up little indignities and chances to mess up for Larry David.
—Esther Zuckerman, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024
Matt Damon messes up his math while also referencing his goofy Brett Kavanaugh impression.
—Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 7 Apr. 2024
Comedians mess up or intentionally break the rules, and After Midnight host Taylor Tomlinson kind of gets mad at them, but mostly everyone, including me, is laughing.
—David Pierce, The Verge, 31 Mar. 2024
My mind is all messed up and my emotions are all over the map.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 20 Mar. 2024
Emilia David, The Verge, 11 Apr. 2024
When their strike was over, sanitation workers cleaned the mess up themselves.
—Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024
And for our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up.
—Rebecca Cohen, NBC News, 4 Apr. 2024
Industrialized engineering solutions have messed up the whole water system globally.
—Matt Simon, WIRED, 15 Mar. 2024
Life will always offer up little indignities and chances to mess up for Larry David.
—Esther Zuckerman, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024
Matt Damon messes up his math while also referencing his goofy Brett Kavanaugh impression.
—Andy Hoglund, EW.com, 7 Apr. 2024
Comedians mess up or intentionally break the rules, and After Midnight host Taylor Tomlinson kind of gets mad at them, but mostly everyone, including me, is laughing.
—David Pierce, The Verge, 31 Mar. 2024
My mind is all messed up and my emotions are all over the map.
—Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 20 Mar. 2024
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.
Dictionary Entries Near mess up
Cite this Entry
“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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