1
as in played
to spend time in aimless activity
spent the vacation day just messing around
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in flirted
to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun
a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in associated
to come or be together as friends
if you continue to mess around with such narrow-minded boobs, you'll begin to think and act like them
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of messed around
In the email, Dixon suggested that the fire department employee may have messed around with the department's equipment.
—
Adam Thompson, CBS News, 5 Feb. 2026
Adam Thompson, CBS News, 5 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for messed around
Verb
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Palisades won its first boys’ basketball title since 1969 after the program played 388 consecutive days without its own gymnasium because of last year’s fire.—
Steve Galluzzo,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Feb. 2026
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Lewis played linebacker at Tennessee before signing with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and appearing in the preseason.—
Chantz Martin,
FOXNews.com,
28 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Since then, Arsenal has flirted with a series of agonizing near misses, most notably pipped at the post by Manchester City in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 Premier League campaigns.—
Aleks Klosok,
CNN Money,
26 Feb. 2026
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Ejiofor flirted with a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks when the teams met earlier this month at Madison Square Garden in an 81-72 Red Storm win.—
Joe Arruda,
Hartford Courant,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Creatine was once associated with gym bros who would scoop the supplement before workouts.—
Hikmat Mohammed,
Vogue,
27 Feb. 2026
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Investigators learned that a majority of the suspects were active-duty Navy and that many were associated with criminal street gangs, official said.—
Caleb Lunetta,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Not too long ago, artificial intelligence was more or less a science project in which data scientists and developers fooled around with one-off small or test projects.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Notably, public health officials believe that the Placer County cases were the result of the patients being exposed to an extended family member who had traveled recently to South Carolina.—
Cecilio Padilla,
CBS News,
2 Mar. 2026
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The Czech Republic, meanwhile, has sent two planes to Egypt and Jordan to bring home Czech nationals, dozens of whom have traveled by bus from Israel.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Set the scene Loews Kansas City has all the makings of a proper business travel hotel, directly connected via skybridge to the Kansas City Convention Center and a short walk from the Power & Light District.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 Mar. 2026
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Martin had only a small social media presence, in the form of an Instagram page connected to him that featured illustrations, mostly of golf courses.—
Peter D'Abrosca,
FOXNews.com,
1 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Sure, lots of people have laser printers hooked up to their computers.—
Jared Kaufman,
Twin Cities,
21 Feb. 2026
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He was hooked up to an IV along with several monitors and his arm and hand were bandaged.—
Ashley Hume , Larry Fink,
FOXNews.com,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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So are mom-and-pop shops mixed with the occasional franchises.—
Faith Karimi,
CNN Money,
1 Mar. 2026
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The bread is traditionally made, with dough mixed by hand, then heated by coals from the fire, buried in sand, covered with more coals and left for 30 minutes.—
Henry Haselock,
TheWeek,
27 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Messed around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messed%20around. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.
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