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
Work is made more stressful thanks to the contributions of her husband, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), a former diplomat to Lebanon whose current unemployment leaves him a lot of time to mess up Kate’s job.
—
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Jan. 2026
That kinda gets messed up for us.
—Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 30 Dec. 2025
Why even risk messing up a good thing?
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 20 Dec. 2025
Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images The college football calendar is messed up, and something needs to be done about it.
—Manny Navarro, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
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Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Jan. 2026
That kinda gets messed up for us.
—Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 30 Dec. 2025
Why even risk messing up a good thing?
—Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 20 Dec. 2025
Charles LeClaire / Imagn Images The college football calendar is messed up, and something needs to be done about it.
—Manny Navarro, New York Times, 17 Dec. 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 7 Jan. 2026.
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