mess around

verb

messed around; messing around; messes around

intransitive verb

1
: to waste time : dawdle, idle
2
a
: associate
didn't mess around with gangs

Examples of mess around in a Sentence

spent the vacation day just messing around a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Instead, one of them is messing around on the road, causing a driver to swerve, crash and fall off a cliff into the water. Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 18 July 2025 For a while now, Spider-Man fans have been hoping that Tom Holland’s MCU version, after messing around with galactic battles and the multiverse, may go back to his roots. Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025 After you get done watching movies, thumbing through your social feeds, and messing around with Garageband. Scott Gilbertson, Wired News, 11 July 2025 One obvious message to schools is that the Trump administration is not messing around. Lexi Lonas Cochran, The Hill, 13 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for mess around

Word History

First Known Use

1918, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of mess around was in 1918

Cite this Entry

“Mess around.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20around. Accessed 26 Jul. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on mess around

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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