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
The digital detectors used by the camera suffered from an issue called quantum efficiency hysteresis, or QEH—when WF/PC took an image of a bright object, there was an afterimage left behind that would mess up later observations.
—
Phil Plait, Scientific American, 16 Jan. 2025
An actor messing up her face for a movie about impossible beauty standards in Hollywood?
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 15 Jan. 2025
My only quibble with this adaptation is the pacing, which suffers thanks to a few unnecessary backstory additions and a few too many long, lingering shots and pregnant pauses that even mess up the flow of some iconic songs.
—Ars Technica, 23 Dec. 2024
Because artists move around on stage or might get too close to the drum kit or guitar amplifiers, that noise can spill over into the vocal mix, totally messing up the overall sound balance.
—Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mess up 
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Phil Plait, Scientific American, 16 Jan. 2025
An actor messing up her face for a movie about impossible beauty standards in Hollywood?
—Kathleen Walsh, Glamour, 15 Jan. 2025
My only quibble with this adaptation is the pacing, which suffers thanks to a few unnecessary backstory additions and a few too many long, lingering shots and pregnant pauses that even mess up the flow of some iconic songs.
—Ars Technica, 23 Dec. 2024
Because artists move around on stage or might get too close to the drum kit or guitar amplifiers, that noise can spill over into the vocal mix, totally messing up the overall sound balance.
—Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for mess up
Dictionary Entries Near mess up
Cite this Entry
“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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