hot mess

noun

plural hot messes

1

informal : something or someone that is emphatically a mess: such as

a

: something in a state of extreme disorder or disarray

His latest outing, to a hot mess of a boutique hotel in New Mexico, is just as full of withering asides and bleeped-out F-bombs.

—TV Guide

b

: a disorganized, disheveled, or self-destructive person

She's a hard-drinking hot mess who scavenges the streets for castoff furniture and clothing that she spruces up and sometimes sells; how she survives in contemporary Los Angeles is one of the movie's biggest mysteries.

—Sheri Lindenn

also : such a person who is at the same time attractive or sexy

However, Everett actually is a hot mess when she performs. Her stage presence is erotic and chaotic, her big blond body wrapped in something low-cut and sheer.

—Molly Adams

2

archaic

a

: a hot dish especially of soft or pulpy food

… there was a stove over which our guides made a hot mess of flour and water which passed for soup.

—Edwin Swift Balch

b

: a hot mixture of ingredients cooked or eaten together

They were supping or breakfasting together off a hot mess of meat and vegetables, and rose up at our entrance, for the room boasted of a wooden bench and couple of ricketty stools.

—Henry Vizetelly

Examples of hot mess in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Now a classic, that Heart of Darkness adaptation wrapped in the chaotic backdrop of Vietnam, was in its earliest showings considered as much a hot mess of radical ideas and imagery as Megalopolis. —Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 26 Sep. 2024

The attempt is a literal hot mess and Seasmoke escapes. —Omar L. Gallaga, Washington Post, 22 July 2024

Our immigration system is a hot mess and everyone knows it. —Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2024

Across the country, the weather is a hot mess, but some people are riding the heat wave without breaking a sweat. —Charlie Carballo, WWD, 11 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1772, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Video

Hot Mess

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings