MUCKED UP Synonyms: 62 Similar and Opposite Words

mucked up

verb

past tense of muck up

as in fumbled

to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way I swear, she mucks up everything she tries

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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

Thomas and Woods fumbled in the first half in Spartan territory — their first of the season on 118 combined carries thus far.

— Connor Dullinger, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2026
During Sunday night’s game against the Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle, Mahomes fumbled after a big hit, and roughly 22 players had a chance to recover the ball.

— Pete Grathoff, Kansas City Star, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of fumbled

Verb

That doesn’t mean the Yankees screwed up in their process by trading for Stanton.

— Chris Kirschner, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026
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

Definition of screwed up

Verb

The stocks are already down over 30% each in October as credit investors blew their yields out to distressed levels, doubting their business model of using aggressive levels of debt to build data centers.

— Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 26 Oct. 2026
After losing consecutive non-road games by three points both times, on Saturday night UT blew a 24-3 halftime lead to turn it a fourth-quarter tie.

— Mac Engel October 25, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2026

Definition of blew

Verb

My brother’s wife has ruined each and every get-together by having constant fights with her little boy about eating.

— Judith Martin, Sun Sentinel, 22 Oct. 2026
Tyrese Maxey scored 28 points, Jaylen Brown had 19, Joel Embiid had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and the Sixers ruined the Knicks' championship party.

— CBS News, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of ruined

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

Definition of fouled up

Verb

During this same time his father had vanished behind the Bamboo Curtain and was almost certainly persecuted, possibly even murdered, by the same Communists that Hoover claimed to be fighting.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Oct. 2026
New or expecting mothers are more likely to be murdered than to die from obstetric causes.

— Michele Decker, Washington Post, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of murdered

Verb

The 53,800-square-foot building, dubbed Le Large, is the passion project of Laurent Dumas, founder and president of the Emerige real estate group and its philanthropic arm, the Emerige Endowment Fund.

— Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 24 Oct. 2026
Linvill and several other research groups attributed them to Russian operators the research community has dubbed Storm-1516.

— Shannon Bond, NPR, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of dubbed

Browse Nearby Words

mucked (out)

mucked up

muckety-muck

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Cite this Entry

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“Mucked up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mucked%20up. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of mucked up

verb

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