mess with

phrasal verb

messed with; messing with; messes with

informal

: to cause trouble for (someone) : to deal with (someone) in a way that may cause anger or violence

I wouldn't want to mess with him.

You'd better not be messing with me.

chiefly US : to deal with or be involved with (something that causes or that could cause trouble)

The company doesn't want to mess with small distributors.

He doesn't want to mess with cocaine anymore.

: to handle or play with (something) in a careless way : to mess around with (something)

Don't mess with the camera.

Examples of mess with in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

In general, poking, picking, or otherwise messing with your skin can lead to more breakouts, scarring, and possibly an infection. —

Jenna Ryu, SELF, 1 Nov. 2024 The organization opted against messing with an all-time-great roster. —

Jeff Weiner, Axios, 21 Oct. 2024 Arguing will slow you down and mess with your emotions and the ability to use your creativity to reach your goal. —

Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2024 Terrified that messing with his wiring would screw with his ability to write — as if the illness itself wasn’t doing that already. —

Jason Sheehan, Rolling Stone, 1 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for mess with