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
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
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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Politicians have started flirting with the idea as well.—
Ali Breland,
The Atlantic,
7 Oct. 2025
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Hunt has been openly flirting with the possibility of running for Senate for months, rolling out a number of statewide ads.—
Julia Manchester,
The Hill,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Graziadei, 46, is known for playing Daniel Romalotti in The Young and the Restless.—
Liza Esquibias,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
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As knowledgeable as Towns is about the infrastructure of the apparel industry, his priority is playing for and training with the New York Knicks.—
Rosemary Feitelberg,
Footwear News,
17 Oct. 2025
Verb
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BabyQuip connects traveling parents, who don’t want to schlep around cribs and high chairs, with independent business owners, who have baby gear to rent.—
Kathy Kristof,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
13 Oct. 2025
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News footage showed Red Cross vehicles traveling through the rubble of Gaza on route to an Israeli military base in Southern Israel.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
13 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,
13 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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This is just what hooking up feels like.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
14 Oct. 2025
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Two movie-mad SoCal kids finally hooking up to tell the story of a revolutionary group on the run, the actor and writer-director both love taking chances and both get excited at challenging their fan bases.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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The student was found hanging about 50 feet up in a tree with the open chute, Metro Nashville Police Department said on X Saturday.—
Alexandra Skores,
CNN Money,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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They’re mainly intended to handle the inference stage of running AI models — the phase after the technology is trained.—
Jessica Coacci,
Fortune,
13 Oct. 2025
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FedEx will continue making regular deliveries, with all FedEx Ground, Freight, Trade Networks, Home Delivery, Office and Custom Critical running as usual.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Messing around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messing%20around. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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