as in mess
a state in which everything is out of order
a professional chef would not tolerate such messiness in the kitchen
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Recent Examples of messiness
While some of Griffin’s jokes may be a product of their time, My Life on the D-List is, all the same, a fascinating snapshot of early aughts celebrity culture in all its chaotic messiness.
—
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Feb. 2026
Mundruczó is more alert to the messiness than the emergence from it.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Feb. 2026
For better or worse, Dawson served as an emotional, often cautionary, proxy for millennials’ own coming-of-age messiness.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2026
It’s widely understood that to shop secondhand is to enter into a treasure hunt, where messiness is permitted and persistence is rewarded with bargains and unique items.
—Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 10 Feb. 2026
Erdoğan’s speeches are full of practical advice about how to destroy the left, such as calling progressives lazy, impractical alcoholics funded by globalist lobbies and contrasting the efficiency of an imperial president with the messiness of parliamentary policymaking.
—Kaya Genç, The Dial, 3 Feb. 2026
Though the rope suggests tidy metaphors of unity, coherence, and formal integrity, a playful but insistent messiness effloresces in Simms’s entanglements, throwing any seeming wholeness into question.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026
The trio has great comedic chemistry, with Marissa constantly exchanging witty barbs with Jamie and barking orders at Harper, while the latter two bond over their mutual messiness.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 26 Jan. 2026
As a writer, Conrad—who sold his first screenplay at the age of 19—has always been interested in messiness.
—Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 22 Jan. 2026
Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Feb. 2026
Mundruczó is more alert to the messiness than the emergence from it.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Feb. 2026
For better or worse, Dawson served as an emotional, often cautionary, proxy for millennials’ own coming-of-age messiness.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Feb. 2026
It’s widely understood that to shop secondhand is to enter into a treasure hunt, where messiness is permitted and persistence is rewarded with bargains and unique items.
—Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 10 Feb. 2026
Erdoğan’s speeches are full of practical advice about how to destroy the left, such as calling progressives lazy, impractical alcoholics funded by globalist lobbies and contrasting the efficiency of an imperial president with the messiness of parliamentary policymaking.
—Kaya Genç, The Dial, 3 Feb. 2026
Though the rope suggests tidy metaphors of unity, coherence, and formal integrity, a playful but insistent messiness effloresces in Simms’s entanglements, throwing any seeming wholeness into question.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 30 Jan. 2026
The trio has great comedic chemistry, with Marissa constantly exchanging witty barbs with Jamie and barking orders at Harper, while the latter two bond over their mutual messiness.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 26 Jan. 2026
As a writer, Conrad—who sold his first screenplay at the age of 19—has always been interested in messiness.
—Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 22 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for messiness
Noun
-
Ovens see a lot of messes from foods that spill onto the bottom or racks that can become burnt overtime the longer the messes sit and bake.—
Ashlyn Needham,
Southern Living,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Robert’s large property borders a clear cut — a clearing where a pine thicket had been cut down in the summer of 2009 — leaving behind a mess of tree stumps and roots.—
Meghan O'Brien,
NBC news,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Despite the chaos of very many demands, the bar staff remains attentive and quick on their feet.—
Jessica Chapel,
Condé Nast Traveler,
15 Feb. 2026
-
But just as there’s a difference between depicting chaos and depicting chaotically, there’s a difference between presenting theatergoers with a realistic image of mental illness and driving an audience nuts.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Macaroons are chewy jumbles of coconut bound together with egg whites and sweetened condensed milk.—
Lynda Balslev,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
-
The result also spotlights conference championships’ awkward fit in the current system, particularly given the fact that conference expansion has led to jumbles atop each league’s standings.—
Jacob Feldman,
Sportico.com,
7 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
Ebba Andersson tumbled and snapped the ski binding in the second leg, giving Norway the advantage on a day where warm weather caused slushy corners that created havoc in the early stages.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Three minutes of comedy chasing and evasive action ensued before play resumed, only for the four-legged fiend to return to wreak more havoc than the home attack had previously shown.—
Craig Chisnall,
New York Times,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Thirty-one years after founding the Vans Warped Tour, the pop-punk patriarch is looking at the modern music industry with a mixture of confusion and frustration.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
15 Feb. 2026
-
The result is not merely confusion about who is responsible but a gradual weakening of the expectations that make responsibility meaningful at all.—
Deb Roy,
The Atlantic,
15 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
As Bellocchio shows, overnight Tortora’s life became a living hell, one that would go on, in prisons and courts and in the tabloids, for years.—
Stephen Schaefer,
Boston Herald,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Sold to Menemsha, genuinely tense and gorgeously shot, highlighting the heavenly mountains and a historical hell.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Messiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messiness. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
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