Noun He was a mess after gardening all day. My hair is a mess. Well, that's another fine mess you've gotten me into! How do we get ourselves into these messes? The school system is a mess. Things were a real mess for a while after she retired. My life is a complete mess. She was a real mess for a while after her divorce. He was a mess during his daughter's wedding ceremony. Verb please don't mess with me while I'm trying to concentrate See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Counseling produced a whole mess of ghosts and goblins from her youth, and then finally came the big one. Annie Lane, cleveland, 10 Sep. 2022 Using the wrong one can leave you with a splotchy mess on your hands and potentially ruin items. Camryn Rabideau, Popular Mechanics, 9 Sep. 2022 Make mac and cheese with less mess, thanks to help from a muffin tin. Andrea Beck, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Sep. 2022 Instead of using soil, the six-pod Harvest garden supplies a nutrient-rich solution directly to the plant’s roots, which will save you from the hassle and mess of growing indoors with soil. Corinne Sullivan, Woman's Day, 8 Sep. 2022 Yannick Ngakoue, DeForest Buckner, Kwity Paye and Dayo Odeyingbo beat up a mess of a Raiders offensive line to make Chris Ballard one happy man after the win. Nate Atkins, The Indianapolis Star, 7 Sep. 2022 Craig Conover makes a small but expensive mess in the upcoming episode of Southern Charm. Tommy Mcardle, Peoplemag, 7 Sep. 2022 This compact hydroponic garden (which comes with six herb seed packets) supplies a nutrient-rich solution directly to a plant’s roots, which will save your recipient from the hassle and mess of growing indoors with soil. Corinne Sullivan, Good Housekeeping, 7 Sep. 2022 And yet, despite the line’s hot-mess potential, there are reasons to believe this team can survive and thrive in the process. Michael Silver, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Sep. 2022
Verb
Locker set out to create the House of Paragon as White had imagined, a place where everyone is supportive, has a place to grow and is not afraid to mess up, Locker said. Jonmaesha Beltran, The Arizona Republic, 12 Aug. 2022 And, of course, just what did Doctor Strange do now to mess everything up so bad? Graeme Mcmillan, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 May 2022 There’s always the question of whether trade rumors will mess up team chemistry. Greg Moore, The Arizona Republic, 24 Aug. 2022 This way, no one else could connect and mess with things.Wired, 13 Aug. 2022 Staying focused and making sure not to mess up who breaks which pane could make the difference between winning and losing here. Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 28 July 2022 When spies mess up in the British intelligence services, they get sent to Slough House, the setting of this misanthropic drama starring Gary Oldman. Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 13 July 2022 Google could make using these tools much clearer, but even still only a fraction of its users will ever mess with its default settings. Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post, 1 July 2022 Ostensibly a game for organization freaks, A Little to the Left asks players to tidy up by arranging books, game cartridges, spoons, lampshades, and more into nice, neat arrangements, all while a mischievous cat tries to mess things up again. Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 18 June 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun and Verb
Middle English mes, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin missus course at a meal, from missus, past participle of mittere to put, from Latin, to send — more at smite