messy

adjective

ˈme-sē 

messier; messiest

1

: marked by confusion, disorder, or dirt : untidy

a messy room

2

: lacking neatness or precision : careless, slovenly

messy thinking

3

: extremely unpleasant or trying

messy lawsuits

a messy divorce

messily

ˈme-sə-lē 

adverb

messiness

ˈme-sē-nəs 

noun

Synonyms

• chaotic
• cluttered
• confused
• disarranged
• disarrayed
• disheveled
• dishevelled
• disordered
• disorderly
• higgledy-piggledy
• hugger-mugger
• jumbled
• littered
• messed
• muddled
• mussed
• mussy
• pell-mell
• rumpled
• sloppy
• topsy-turvy
• tousled
• tumbled
• unkempt
• untidy
• upside-down

Examples of messy in a Sentence

Painting a room can be messy work.

Some kinds of glue are messier than others.

a delicious but messy sandwich

Recent Examples on the Web

These are released to Pixels almost immediately, while other OEMs must combine with their own fixes and then run these out across the messy Android ecosystem. —Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025

The dips are wet, messy behemoths of meat, juice and bread. —Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2025

If the showrunners trust that viewers can stomach the show’s brutality to learn lessons about the virtues and flaws of human nature, we should also be considered brave enough to face a woman in a messy bun—or God forbid, one with a tangle or two in her hair. —Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, 11 May 2025

And sometimes, the messiest paths are the ones that leave the richest stories behind. —Jon Stojan, USA Today, 10 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1627, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for messy

• bessy
• cressy
• dressy
• jesse

Kids Definition

messy

adjective

ˈmes-ē 

messier; messiest

1

: marked by confusion, disorder, or dirt : untidy

2

: extremely unpleasant or trying

messy lawsuits

messily

ˈmes-ə-lē 

adverb

messiness

ˈmes-ē-nəs 

noun