mess up
phrasal verb
messed up; messing up; messes up
informal
: to make a mistake : to do something incorrectly
About halfway into the recipe, I realized that I had messed up, and I had to start over.
—often + onShe's afraid she'll mess up on the test.
I messed up on my first attempt.
Examples of mess up in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That moment wasn’t your typical ‘kid acts impulsively and messes up the mission’ type of scene.
—
Katie Campione, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2025
Because wearing that belt for 12-hour days, five days a week, will really mess up your back.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
Don’t sit there in front of a camera and talk to media members about guys messing up.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 13 Oct. 2025
This sort of scenario could explain Saturn’s young, ice-rich rings, as well as the bizarre properties of Enceladus, without messing up the properties of the other Saturnian moons.
—Big Think, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
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Katie Campione, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2025
Because wearing that belt for 12-hour days, five days a week, will really mess up your back.
—Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 16 Oct. 2025
Don’t sit there in front of a camera and talk to media members about guys messing up.
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 13 Oct. 2025
This sort of scenario could explain Saturn’s young, ice-rich rings, as well as the bizarre properties of Enceladus, without messing up the properties of the other Saturnian moons.
—Big Think, 9 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
Cite this Entry
“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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