messy

adjective

ˈme-sē 

messier; messiest

1

: marked by confusion, disorder, or dirt : untidy

a messy room

2

: lacking neatness or precision : careless, slovenly

messy thinking

3

: extremely unpleasant or trying

messy lawsuits

a messy divorce

messily

ˈme-sə-lē 

adverb

messiness

ˈme-sē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• chaotic
• cluttered
• confused
• disarranged
• disarrayed
• disheveled
• dishevelled
• disordered
• disorderly
• higgledy-piggledy
• hugger-mugger
• jumbled
• littered
• messed
• muddled
• mussed
• mussy
• pell-mell
• rumpled
• sloppy
• topsy-turvy
• tousled
• tumbled
• unkempt
• untidy
• upside-down

Examples of messy in a Sentence

Painting a room can be messy work.

Some kinds of glue are messier than others.

a delicious but messy sandwich

Recent Examples on the Web

Rosenfeld has already brought the predictive power of engineering into another messy field, albeit a much younger field, that of modern AI. —Gil Press, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024

The video starts with Shakira waking up to a house keeper’s knock in a messy hotel room with a number of her friends sprawled across the floors and mattress. —Thania Garcia, Variety, 11 Oct. 2024

But this moment of solidarity between two old Cold War adversaries masked a messy tangle of compromises. —Issie Lapowsky, WIRED, 10 Oct. 2024

Evacuees later described the process as messy and terrifying, but no lives were lost, even as the fire destroyed more than 500 structures. —Colleen Hagerty, Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1627, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

messy

adjective

ˈmes-ē 

messier; messiest

1

: marked by confusion, disorder, or dirt : untidy

2

: extremely unpleasant or trying

messy lawsuits

messily

ˈmes-ə-lē 

adverb

messiness

ˈmes-ē-nəs 

noun