mess up
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
Benchmarking is one of those things that sounds simple on paper but is incredibly easy to mess up.
—
Emad Rahim, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
One attendee noted that Power even skillfully covered for a castmate who’d messed up his lines.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 26 May 2026
Others go even further, asking the waiter to deliberately mess up the candidate’s order.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 14 May 2026
The two continue fighting as Michael keeps insisting that Richie will mess up his kid.
—Erin Jensen, USA Today, 8 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for mess up
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Emad Rahim, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
One attendee noted that Power even skillfully covered for a castmate who’d messed up his lines.
—Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 26 May 2026
Others go even further, asking the waiter to deliberately mess up the candidate’s order.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 14 May 2026
The two continue fighting as Michael keeps insisting that Richie will mess up his kid.
—Erin Jensen, USA Today, 8 May 2026
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 31 May. 2026.
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