Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
1,754,737,639 visitors served.
forum mailing list For webmasters
?
New: Language forums
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

mess up

   Also found in: Medical, Legal, Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
mess  (ms)
n.
1. A disorderly or dirty accumulation, heap, or jumble: left a mess in the yard.
2.
a. A cluttered, untidy, usually dirty condition: The kitchen was a mess.
b. A confused, troubling, or embarrassing condition; a muddle: With divorce and bankruptcy proceedings pending, his personal life was in a mess.
c. One that is in such a condition: clothes that were a mess after painting the ceiling; made a mess of their marriage.
3.
a. An amount of food, as for a meal, course, or dish: cooked up a mess of fish.
b. A serving of soft, semiliquid food: a mess of porridge.
4.
a. A group of people, usually soldiers or sailors, who regularly eat meals together.
b. Food or a meal served to such a group: took mess with the enlistees.
c. A mess hall.
v. messed, mess·ing, mess·es
v.tr.
1. To make disorderly or soiled; clutter or foul: a puppy that still messes the floor.
2. To botch; bungle.
v.intr.
1. To cause or make a mess.
2. To use or handle something carelessly; fiddle: messed with the blender until he broke it.
3. To intrude; interfere: messing in the neighbors' affairs.
4. To take a meal in a military mess.
Phrasal Verbs:
mess around Informal
1. To pass time in aimless puttering.
2. To associate casually or playfully: liked to mess around with pals on days off.
3. Informal To be sexually unfaithful.
mess up
1. Informal To make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion: messed up and dropped the ball.
2. Slang To beat up; manhandle: got messed up in a brawl.

[Middle English mes, course of a meal, food, group of people eating together, from Old French, from Late Latin missus, from Latin, past participle of mittere, to place.]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Verb1.mess up - make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement"
go wrong, miscarry, fail - be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably"
2.mess up - disturb the smoothness of; "ruffle the surface of the water"
disarrange - destroy the arrangement or order of; "My son disarranged the papers on my desk"
3.mess up - make a mess of or create disorder in; "He messed up his room"
disarray, disorder - bring disorder to
Translations
? mess up
vt sepdurcheinanderbringen; (= make dirty)verdrecken; (= botch, bungle)verpfuschen, verhunzen (inf); marriagekaputt machen (inf), → ruinieren; life, personverkorksen (inf); person (as regards looks) → übel zurichten; missing the connection messed up the whole journeydadurch, dass wir den Anschluss verpassten, lief die ganze Reise schief; her visit really messed me up (inf)ihr Besuch hat mir wirklich alles vermasselt (inf); that’s really messed things updas hat wirklich alles verdorben or vermasselt (inf)

mess up يُخطِئ zaneřádit ødelægge verpfuschen κάνω άνω κάτω desordenar sotkea mettre en désordre unerediti scompigliare 散らかす 망쳐놓다 in de war sturen skitne til nabałaganić desarrumar испортить(ся) stöka till ทำให้สกปรก kirletmek làm bẩn 搞糟


How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Email
Feedback
Add definition
? Mentioned in
 
Dictionary/thesaurus browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Translations
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.