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
The resulting delays can mess up a person’s day, causing missed connections or making riders late for work.
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Murugan Anandarajan, The Conversation, 6 Aug. 2025
Flying from the West Coast to the East Coast can mess up the body's biological internal clock, leading to a mismatch of various symptoms.
—Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2025
At that time, the consequences were fiddly things like messing up your charging schedule or tweaking your billing.
—Neil J. Rubenking, PC Magazine, 1 Aug. 2025
This book has huge twists and turns and is all kinds of messed up.
—Karin Slaughter, People.com, 29 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
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Murugan Anandarajan, The Conversation, 6 Aug. 2025
Flying from the West Coast to the East Coast can mess up the body's biological internal clock, leading to a mismatch of various symptoms.
—Ashley J. Dimella, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2025
At that time, the consequences were fiddly things like messing up your charging schedule or tweaking your billing.
—Neil J. Rubenking, PC Magazine, 1 Aug. 2025
This book has huge twists and turns and is all kinds of messed up.
—Karin Slaughter, People.com, 29 July 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 19 Aug. 2025.
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