messes around

present tense third-person singular of mess around
1
2
as in flirts
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

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of messes around Other standouts include a Maybelline mascara and a Black and Decker handheld vacuum, which makes quick work of small messes around the house and in the car. Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for messes around
Verb
  • A lot of great actors are based around there, and there were others like Lubna Azabal who plays Julia Felix.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 21 July 2026
  • Sean Clements Rated PG-13, 1 hour 43 minutes Johnson plays Dustin Boyd, whose laser-focused, hardass father Chuck (Ed Harris) trained him for tennis excellence from early childhood.
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 21 July 2026
Verb
  • Rachel dates a shoe store operator named Lou (Bob Hoskins), while Charlotte nurses a crush on her handsome young school bus driver and flirts with Catholicism to the chagrin of her Jewish mother.
    David Faris, TheWeek, 17 July 2026
  • Dishes are custom made in Italy and flown over, wine flirts between old world Italian wonders and bottles from local makers.
    Kate Dingwall, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
Verb
  • Odysseus travels to the underworld and has to perform a blood sacrifice.
    Harmeet Kaur, CNN Money, 23 July 2026
  • The president travels to Georgia today, a swing state with a key Senate race and a toss-up gubernatorial contest.
    Tamara Keith, NPR, 22 July 2026
Verb
  • Though the sisters are supposedly first-generation Italian American, no whiff of the old country hangs about Kay; Dorothy will at least spit out a few words in Italian.
    Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026
  • Turquoise pearl, and azure line the space, and a cylindrical hanging light sculpture made of hundreds of white and gold ceramic fish hangs about the lounge seating area.
    Kristin Braswell, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • The productivity boom everyone associates with the personal computer didn’t actually show up in the macro data until 15 years after the PC was commercialized.
    Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 July 2026
  • The two-time Oscar winner, who was born in Concord and grew up in the East Bay, associates that sign with some of his favorite Bay Area childhood memories.
    Randy Myers, Mercury News, 15 June 2026
Verb
  • And Cody still comes out before the season starts and takes BP, hooks up the kids with some Nike stuff.
    Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 17 July 2026
  • Its lightweight frame packages a swift 5-minute charge option that hooks up 3 hours of extra listening, Multi-Point device switching, and Voice Aware side-tone monitoring for phone calls.
    Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 6 July 2026
Verb
  • This discovery connects with work happening at Ames National Laboratory to better understand how materials handle nuclear operations.
    Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 26 July 2026
  • An airline can rank well overall, but if your itinerary connects through a busy, disruption-prone hub, a nonstop on another carrier may get you there with less trouble.
    Christopher Elliott, Forbes.com, 25 July 2026
Verb
  • In the film, Field portrays Tova, the cleaning lady who bonds with the somewhat cranky Marcellus, an octopus wise behind his years, in Netflix’s screen adaptation of Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling novel.
    Denise Petski, Deadline, 8 July 2026
  • Once there, Emily bonds with four other counselors — played by Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis and Ella Reece — who begin to explore their witchy reality together.
    William Earl, Variety, 26 June 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Messes around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messes%20around. Accessed 30 Jul. 2026.

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