mucked up

past tense of muck up

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 mucked up An exciting World Cup run mucked up by a president for whom muck might as well be a currency. Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026 Even in the harshest descriptions of the violence and almost unbelievably cruel twists of fate that Yarris endured (the DNA testing keeps getting accidentally mucked up), Brody lends him a vital indomitable spark. Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026 Toronto is a good defensive team but doesn’t shoot the 3-ball well and has a half-court offense that can get mucked up and relies heavily on midrange jumpers. James L. Edwards Iii, New York Times, 9 Mar. 2026 Well, the first and third mucked up their stories with some overly contrived lore about cults and gods, and the fourth was an experiment for the formula that didn’t quite work. Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 23 Jan. 2026 Lawmakers need to get back to Washington to end the government shutdown - a shutdown that has mucked up travel plans around the country by contributing to widespread flight delays. Zachary Schermele, USA Today, 11 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mucked up
Verb
  • In the bathroom, my fingers fumbled in the inner pocket of my jacket, searching for the passport.
    Ledio Cakaj, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Despite rebounding with the wildly entertaining F9 in 2021, the Fast franchise fumbled the 10th chapter, which underperformed at the box office and didn’t exactly get fans hyped for the follow-up.
    Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Every time a player screwed up, the coaching staff and his teammates received a text message, calling out both the infraction and the guilty party.
    Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026
  • That growth is mostly a testament to how screwed up our school bus system currently is.
    Maggie McGrath, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Two exes alleged Watts blew past their boundaries to satisfy his own needs.
    Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Shakur’s killing on the Las Vegas Strip in 1996 blew these tensions wide open, though the case remained unsolved for decades.
    Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • The influx all but ruined Sutter’s extensive land holdings around Sacramento, originally dubbed New Helvetia.
    Don Sweeney, Sacbee.com, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Brentford will be hoping promising midfielder Antoni Milambo can contribute after his debut season was ruined by an ACL injury in October.
    Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • But their strategy was fouled up when the car’s occupants switched on the headlights, throwing a glare up the tote road along which the wardens had planned to sprint.
    Dave Duffey, Outdoor Life, 26 Mar. 2026
  • Wild turkeys gobbled up Staten Island straphangers’ time on Monday, after a flock fouled up service on the Staten Island Railway.
    Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 17 Mar. 2026
Verb
  • If the appeals court agrees, Patterson would only be the second woman to receive a full life sentence in Australia, after Katherine Knight, who murdered her de facto husband and cooked parts of his body.
    Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2026
  • On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden, were murdered in the family’s home in Fall River, Massachusetts.
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Alexis Ohanian have effectively dubbed themselves amateur yeoman, putting the ultrarichs’ hobby of tending to the land in the spotlight.
    Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune, 23 Aug. 2026
  • The intense 2015-2016 El Niño was widely dubbed Godzilla, as people struggled to compare it to the very strong El Niño in 1997-1998.
    Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Mucked up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mucked%20up. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.

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