mess with

phrasal verb

messed with; messing with; messes with

informal

1

: to cause trouble for (someone) : to deal with (someone) in a way that may cause anger or violence

I wouldn't want to mess with him.

You'd better not be messing with me.

2

chiefly US : to deal with or be involved with (something that causes or that could cause trouble)

The company doesn't want to mess with small distributors.

He doesn't want to mess with cocaine anymore.

3

: to handle or play with (something) in a careless way : to mess around with (something)

Don't mess with the camera.

Examples of mess with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

From the creamy filling to the crunchy crust, this mile-high peanut butter pie is nothing to be messed with. —Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 4 July 2025

Premier League forwards will mess with Sebastiaan Bornauw and Jaka Bijol at their peril. —Beren Cross, New York Times, 3 July 2025

After all, any number of other things (like stress, poor sleep hygiene, and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression) can mess with your ability to doze off and stay asleep at night, and leave you feeling like utter crap throughout the day. —Erica Sloan, SELF, 25 June 2025

Watson was on [medication] and [Moriarty] was messing with his prescriptions. —Stewart Clarke, Deadline, 14 June 2025