1
as in fiddling (around)
to spend time in aimless activity
spent the vacation day just messing around
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in flirting
to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun
a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in travelling
to come or be together as friends
if you continue to mess around with such narrow-minded boobs, you'll begin to think and act like them
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of messing around
Apple isn't messing around with this update.
—
PC Magazine, 21 Oct. 2025
The dismantling of the Cubs in the NLDS was a statement series that the Brewers are not messing around and have the power to win their first World Series.
—Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
Around March, during a session with Allen and Slatkin, Maddell started messing around with chords to pair with an acoustic that Slatkin had at the ready.
—Josh Glicksman, Billboard, 12 Aug. 2025
PC Magazine, 21 Oct. 2025
The dismantling of the Cubs in the NLDS was a statement series that the Brewers are not messing around and have the power to win their first World Series.
—Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 Oct. 2025
Around March, during a session with Allen and Slatkin, Maddell started messing around with chords to pair with an acoustic that Slatkin had at the ready.
—Josh Glicksman, Billboard, 12 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for messing around
Verb
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Even the United States, which can sometimes appear allergic to collective transit, is once again flirting with the idea that speed and sustainability might share the same track.—
Chelsea Haney
October 25,
New Atlas,
25 Oct. 2025
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But as college sports enters yet another year of flirting with institutional funds of all sorts—conversations that have drawn vocal pushback from fans, administrators and trustees—I’ve begun to pay close attention to how those in power talk about these deals.—
Eben Novy-Williams,
Sportico.com,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Despite playing before halftime, Scheierman and Walsh were not put back on the court again until the final seconds.—
Jay King,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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Investigators pointed to a March 23, 2023, game involving Rozier, then playing for the Charlotte Hornets.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli is charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm while traveling on an aircraft, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.—
Cindy Von Quednow,
CNN Money,
28 Oct. 2025
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Sacrament revolves around two cousins from San Bernardino, Larette and Cherrise, who, along with two traveling nurses—four ICU nurses in all—are isolating in individual Mallard trailers in CamperWorld, three blocks from Our Lady of Sorrows hospital.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Gisin hopes that by fooling around with measurements of these more exotic states, physicists will come to better understand the role of measurement in general.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Younger Democrats are increasingly associating her with the past and see her as part of the problem that let Donald Trump back into the White House rather than a credible candidate for 2028.—
Kate Plummer,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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The overall structure of a chromosome can be divided first into large territories, then into more specialized compartments, and then into topologically associating domains, known as TADs.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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But Foster, who initially had the pair hooking up, only to scrap that plan during production, didn’t have clear answers for her or her co-star.—
Lacey Rose,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Oct. 2025
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Seguin responded on its next series, with the Andrews-to-Smith duo hooking up on a 17-yard TD.—
Mike Waters,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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In 2019, city employees began hanging about 500 trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets in the trees on Main Street every October.—
Elliott Harrell,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Oct. 2025
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Orion Nebula Those viewing from a dark sky location may also notice a blurry patch of light hanging about 5 degrees below Orion's belt.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
14 Oct. 2025
Verb
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University administrators point to a new business plan and the paper's running deficit as the reasons behind their decision to cut print.—
Cate Charron,
IndyStar,
27 Oct. 2025
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My own kids are running around the place.—
Jordyn Noennig,
jsonline.com,
27 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Messing around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messing%20around. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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