messes (up)

verb

present tense third-person singular of mess (up)
1
as in fumbles
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way messed up the drawing and had to start over

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disrupts
to undo the proper order or arrangement of a nap had messed up her hair and she looked a sight

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in stumbles
to make a mistake if anyone messes up even once while we're recording, we have to start all over again

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4
as in licks
to strike repeatedly threatened that he would mess him up if he cheated at the game

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for messes (up)
  1. fumbles
  2. disrupts
  3. stumbles
  4. licks
  5. blows
  6. confuses
  7. trips
  8. pounds
Verb
  • So the associate who fumbles a membership conversation doesn’t need a lecture.
    — Zaharia-Gabriel Sidere, Forbes.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • DeLand was driving inside the 20 yard line and Taihj Moore fumbles, recovered by Lake Mary.
    — Buddy Collings, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of fumbles
Verb
  • Courts have also recognized circumstances in which educational institutions may restrict student speech that materially and substantially disrupts their operations.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Introducing conscious thoughts actually disrupts this flow and slows down the process.
    — Jesse Granger, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of disrupts
Verb
  • Even as Heath stumbles his way through the lyrics, the audience respectfully claps along to the beat.
    — Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Lizard Music follows a boy (Theo Clark Leber) left to his own devices who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music, and a hidden door to the extraordinary swings open.
    — Anthony D'Alessandro, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of stumbles
Verb
  • That glib self-confidence is present in McNamara, who licks the doughnut glaze off his fingers before offering his hand to the female detective questioning the one living Jason.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Later, a woman protractedly licks blue ice cream from a cone, her attempts thwarted by ferocious gusts of wind and sand.
    — Matilda Hague, Variety, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of licks
Verb
  • While the 44-6 vote effectively blows a $75 million hole in the mayor's 2027 budget proposal, alders argued the funds were always intended to continue chipping away at the city's $36 billion pension debt, not to help balance next year's budget.
    — Todd Feurer, CBS News, 2 Nov. 2026
  • That means that the part of the fan that blows air out needs to be on the exterior of your cube, and the back side of the fan that pulls in air needs to be on the inside of your cube.
    — John Alexander, Popular Science, 1 Nov. 2026
Definition of blows
Verb
  • The legal system dehumanizes her, the support group confuses her, and one of her friends painfully disappoints her.
    — Carey Purcell, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026
  • This confuses each Nyota but also those around them, who note that the Nyotas have rather quickly assumed new hairstyles but also that neither is behaving quite like herself.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of confuses
Verb
  • This effectively reduces the Platinum status requirement to 130,000 TQPs and makes earning unlimited Companion Pass trips a bit easier.
    — Jason Stauffer, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2026
  • And maybe trips like this can help the nomad way of life survive.
    — Jen Murphy, Condé Nast Traveler, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of trips
Verb
  • Higher prices come as Ukraine pounds Russian refineries, forcing Moscow to ban diesel exports.
    — Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Part of the problem is that every summer, water pounds down on sidewalks in the Treasure Valley, drops rippling on glassy reflective surfaces, all because of sprinkler jets overshooting the grass and landing on pavement.
    — Idaho Statesman, Idaho Statesman, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of pounds
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.

Browse Nearby Words

messes over
messes (up)
messes (with)
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Cite this Entry

“Messes (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messes%20%28up%29. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.

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