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mess up

mess up
M m

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [mes uhp]
    • /mɛs ʌp/
    • /mes ʌp/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [mes uhp]
    • /mɛs ʌp/

Definitions of mess up words

  • noun mess up a dirty, untidy, or disordered condition: The room was in a mess. 1
  • noun mess up a person or thing that is dirty, untidy, or disordered. 1
  • noun mess up a state of embarrassing confusion: My affairs are in a mess. 1
  • noun mess up an unpleasant or difficult situation: She got into a mess driving without a license. 1
  • noun mess up a dirty or untidy mass, litter, or jumble: a mess of papers. 1
  • noun mess up a group regularly taking their meals together. 1

Information block about the term

Origin of mess up

First appearance:

before 1900
One of the 17% newest English words
First recorded in 1900-05; noun use of verb phrase mess up

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Mess up

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

mess up popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 51% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

mess up usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for mess up

verb mess up

  • befoul — to make dirty or foul; soil; defile
  • besmirch — If you besmirch someone or their reputation, you say that they are a bad person or that they have done something wrong, usually when this is not true.
  • botch — If you botch something that you are doing, you do it badly or clumsily.
  • bungle — If you bungle something, you fail to do it properly, because you make mistakes or are clumsy.
  • clutter — Clutter is a lot of things in an untidy state, especially things that are not useful or necessary.

Antonyms for mess up

verb mess up

  • organize — to form as or into a whole consisting of interdependent or coordinated parts, especially for united action: to organize a committee.
  • tidy — neat, orderly, or trim, as in appearance or dress: a tidy room; a tidy person.
  • arrange — If you arrange an event or meeting, you make plans for it to happen.
  • order — an authoritative direction or instruction; command; mandate.

See also

Matching words

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