1
as in fiddling (around)
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 flirting
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 travelling
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
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Recent Examples of messing around
Around March, during a session with Allen and Slatkin, Maddell started messing around with chords to pair with an acoustic that Slatkin had at the ready.
—
Josh Glicksman, Billboard, 12 Aug. 2025
Josh Glicksman, Billboard, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for messing around
Verb
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Brækhus has been flirting with retirement ever since her first loss to McCaskill, but now, finally, feels ready to step away.—
George Ramsay,
CNN Money,
3 Oct. 2025
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Powell doesn’t just mean that stock prices are flirting with record highs.—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Vought, who helped write the policy blueprint known as Project 2025, is playing a major role during the shutdown, including on decisions over whether there are mass layoffs of federal employees instead of furloughs and what funding is cut and what is allowed to flow.—
Sarah D. Wire,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
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George Clooney is playing a movie star, and that was sort of built into the idea.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Isabella Lozano had been traveling in the eastbound lanes of the freeway when the crash happened in front of her vehicle.—
Ishani Desai,
Sacbee.com,
7 Oct. 2025
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Pair it with a cardigan and ballet flats for a cozy spin, style it with a blazer and bodysuit for the office, or go casual with a graphic tee and sneakers while traveling.—
Rosie Marder,
Travel + Leisure,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Gisin hopes that by fooling around with measurements of these more exotic states, physicists will come to better understand the role of measurement in general.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Another drawback is that multitasking in remote meetings is sometimes perceived as inappropriate behavior, with some individuals explicitly associating it with being impolite.—
Diane Brady,
Fortune,
2 Oct. 2025
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To give some dimension to the flat caricature of her and of Mignini that people were associating with this story.—
Jackie Strause,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Two movie-mad SoCal kids finally hooking up to tell the story of a revolutionary group on the run, the actor and writer-director both love taking chances and both get excited at challenging their fan bases.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
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When the tiny home arrives, a semi-permanent setup is as easy as leveling the surface, hooking up utilities, and anchoring the home, if desired, which can be accomplished with the help of the builder’s team.—
Maggie Horton,
PEOPLE,
14 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The student was found hanging about 50 feet up in a tree with the open chute, Metro Nashville Police Department said on X Saturday.—
Alexandra Skores,
CNN Money,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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She was appointed solicitor general in 2023 by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is running for governor.—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
7 Oct. 2025
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Nick Chubb, Sony Michel and D’Andre Swift in the 2017 backfield, and 2018 with Swift and Elijah Holyfield both running for 1,000 yards.—
Seth Emerson,
New York Times,
7 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Messing around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messing%20around. Accessed 11 Oct. 2025.
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