MESSES AROUND Synonyms: 116 Similar and Opposite Words

messes around

verb

present tense third-person singular of mess around

as in plays

to spend time in aimless activity spent the vacation day just messing around

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

as in travels

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

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

What the Study Found A team of researchers at Texas A&M University set out to determine whether the NR4A1 receptor plays a role in the anti-aging benefits of coffee.

— Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 11 Aug. 2026
Esparza plays the unhinged tyrant with a quickness, his bright eyes darting and weaving with each newfangled notion.

— Christopher Barnard, Vogue, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of plays

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

Definition of flirts

Verb

Those skills are put to similar use in Tony, in which Bourdain travels to Provincetown on a whim in hopes of impressing a girl (Emilia Jones) by lying about receiving a fellowship to write a novel.

— Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 7 Aug. 2026
The film follows Souleymane Everston Adowo Freudenreich, an Afro-German trans man who travels to Dakar, Senegal, to repair his father’s kora.

— Roberto Prieto, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of travels

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

Definition of hangs about

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

Definition of associates

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

Definition of hooks up

Verb

Black is the vice president of the 211 System Strategy, a helpline supported by the United Way that connects people to food aid, mental health services, transportation and more.

— David Goldman, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026
The famous Bosphorus Strait—which connects the Black Sea in the North to Sea of Marmara in the South, dividing Istanbul’s East and West sides—is filled with a constant flow of boats going about their business.

— CNT Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of connects

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

Definition of bonds

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messes

messes around

messes over

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Style

“Messes around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messes%20around. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of messes around

verb

Example Sentences

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