1
as in to play
to spend time in aimless activity
spent the vacation day just messing around
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to flirt
to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun
a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in to travel
to come or be together as friends
if you continue to mess around with such narrow-minded boobs, you'll begin to think and act like them
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of mess around
Other standouts include a Maybelline mascara and a Black and Decker handheld vacuum, which makes quick work of small messes around the house and in the car.
—
Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
Roger would go out and kind of mess around right before the tournament.
—Patrick McEnroe, New York Times, 28 Jan. 2026
Most people are messing around charging far too little for clients who don't appreciate them.
—Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 25 Jan. 2026
No messing around — just wham, bam, thank you, GLAM!
—Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for mess around
Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026
Roger would go out and kind of mess around right before the tournament.
—Patrick McEnroe, New York Times, 28 Jan. 2026
Most people are messing around charging far too little for clients who don't appreciate them.
—Jodie Cook, Forbes.com, 25 Jan. 2026
No messing around — just wham, bam, thank you, GLAM!
—Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 20 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for mess around
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mess around
Verb
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Before playing in the last four games, Reaves had missed the previous 19 with his calf injury.—
Broderick Turner,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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Maldonado invited Jaquez to play, and after losing, Jaquez bought Maldonado drinks and returned to his friend group, according to the affidavit.—
Elissa Jorgensen,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Then their subject starts to flirt with the idea of disengaging and moving to a like-minded nudist community, even relocating for a few days to test the new setup out.—
Alison Herman,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
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Some participants go home with a new connection, and others flirt a little and then buy some books, Clark Delgado says.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Instead of helping them, their captain is making the situation worse and will now not be available until Spurs travel to Liverpool on March 16.—
Jay Harris,
New York Times,
8 Feb. 2026
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For commuters like Chris, who travels from Roseville to Elverta, delays have become part of the daily routine.—
Conor McGill,
CBS News,
7 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Not too long ago, artificial intelligence was more or less a science project in which data scientists and developers fooled around with one-off small or test projects.—
Joe McKendrick,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
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Gisin hopes that by fooling around with measurements of these more exotic states, physicists will come to better understand the role of measurement in general.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
8 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Much of it is guilt by association — on the grounds, if nothing else, that elites should have known better than to associate with such a man.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
9 Feb. 2026
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This is clearly not possible considering the importance of safety concerns associated with nuclear reactors, particularly new and novel designs.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Cisco says the platform is built to support massive AI clusters running training, inference, and real-time agentic workloads while improving efficiency and lowering operating costs.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Feb. 2026
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In September, the preliminary revision inferred that the US economy likely added about 911,000 fewer jobs than the jobs reports initially estimated for the 12-month period running from April 2024 through March 2025.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Turquoise pearl, and azure line the space, and a cylindrical hanging light sculpture made of hundreds of white and gold ceramic fish hangs about the lounge seating area.—
Kristin Braswell,
Condé Nast Traveler,
7 Jan. 2026
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The hot air just hangs about, causing the dish to cook unevenly with some spots nearly raw and others burnt.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Thus bonded, the pair become the band’s Lennon and McCartney, with music fairly flowing out of them after Kitty moves in.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
5 Feb. 2026
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Even then, though, the four actor-musicians didn’t really start to bond yet.—
Peter Larsen,
Daily News,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mess around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mess%20around. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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