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
Kyle Busch led for a decent chunk in the second half of the race but fell back in the closing laps after his right rear got messed up.
—
Ryan Morik, Fox News, 3 Mar. 2025
Fortunately, this 3-D contoured mask doesn’t mess up my makeup or put pressure on my sensitive peepers.
—Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 2 Mar. 2025
Along the way, someone messed up and gave the acting legends the wrong envelope, for Best Actress, which had gone to Emma Stone for La La Land.
—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 2 Mar. 2025
At the end, the announcer, incredibly, manages to mess up the host’s name!
—Bill Wyman, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
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Ryan Morik, Fox News, 3 Mar. 2025
Fortunately, this 3-D contoured mask doesn’t mess up my makeup or put pressure on my sensitive peepers.
—Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 2 Mar. 2025
Along the way, someone messed up and gave the acting legends the wrong envelope, for Best Actress, which had gone to Emma Stone for La La Land.
—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 2 Mar. 2025
At the end, the announcer, incredibly, manages to mess up the host’s name!
—Bill Wyman, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
Cite this Entry
“Mess up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mess%20up. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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