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
And there's these three doctors on the side, and then this actor was messing up his lines.
—
Michael Nied, People.com, 28 July 2025
Still, the 24-year-old messed up, warranting a conversation with Boone.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 19 July 2025
There’s this hypersensitivity not to mess up in the Democratic Party.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 16 July 2025
This is where a lot of small-business owners mess up.
—Marek Niedzwiedz, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mess up
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Michael Nied, People.com, 28 July 2025
Still, the 24-year-old messed up, warranting a conversation with Boone.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 19 July 2025
There’s this hypersensitivity not to mess up in the Democratic Party.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 16 July 2025
This is where a lot of small-business owners mess up.
—Marek Niedzwiedz, Forbes.com, 15 July 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 2 Aug. 2025.
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