muck up

verb

mucked up; mucking up; mucks up

transitive verb

: to make a mess of : bungle, spoil

Synonyms of muck up

• fumble
• blow
• screw up
• foul up
• ruin
• goof (up)
• boot

Examples of muck up in a Sentence

I swear, she mucks up everything she tries.

Recent Examples on the Web

Dinner reservations were also required for Linnette’s on my visit, but sometimes the restaurant hosts didn’t use the reservation system on quieter nights—which could muck up a Resy app attendance record. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Sep. 2026

But life has a way of mucking up even the best plans, sometimes all at once and sometimes bit by bit and usually a little of both. — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026

An exciting World Cup run mucked up by a president for whom muck might as well be a currency. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026

Amid the memory shortage that's mucking up component prices globally, at least Qualcomm has some promising news for folks hoping to pay less for a daily driver. — Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 7 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1896, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for muck up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup