messing (up)

verb

Definition of messing (up)next
present participle of mess (up)
1
as in fumbling
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way messed up the drawing and had to start over

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in disrupting
to undo the proper order or arrangement of a nap had messed up her hair and she looked a sight

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in stumbling
to make a mistake if anyone messes up even once while we're recording, we have to start all over again

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4
as in licking
to strike repeatedly threatened that he would mess him up if he cheated at the game

Synonyms & Similar Words

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for messing (up)
  1. disrupting
  2. pounding
  3. tripping
  4. hiding
  5. shuffling
  6. lashing
  7. doing
  8. beating
Verb
  • Russian shelling has severely damaged two water facilities in northern Donetsk, disrupting the water supply for about 260,000 residents.
    Katya Soldak, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
  • The 50,000 members of the union working at ports from Maine to Texas have been on strike since early Tuesday morning, halting the flow of the majority of containerized imports into the United States, along with many of the exports, disrupting the sales of American businesses overseas.
    Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN, 3 Oct. 2024
Definition of disrupting
Verb
  • Use It To Help Flatten Chicken Breasts Before pounding any meat to create cutlets, use wax paper in between it and your mallet to help avoid any unwanted stickiness and keep it in place.
    Daley Quinn, Southern Living, 2 Oct. 2024
  • Israel has been pounding Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon for days.
    Dina Kraft, The Christian Science Monitor, 1 Oct. 2024
Definition of pounding
Verb
  • Traffic, tripping hazards and hard-to-spot costumes can become hazardous if precautions aren’t taken.
    Tribune News Service, Orange County Register, 11 Oct. 2024
  • Aside from tech issues, the hardest part is not tripping—Carpenter is constantly running up and down stairs.
    Lucy Feldman, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024
Definition of tripping
Verb
  • Further evidence is the fact that Amazon is bragging about, not hiding, season 2 viewership.
    Paul Tassi, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
  • The footage captured a figure in a ski mask hiding in the shadows as an unsuspecting woman arrives at the bank and goes about withdrawing money from the ATM.
    Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Fox News, 4 Oct. 2024
Definition of hiding
Verb
  • Honorable Mentions My Top Five stays the same as my recent mid-September update, but there was shuffling from #6-10 down the home stretch.
    Tony Blengino, Forbes, 2 Oct. 2024
  • Meanwhile, storm survivors were still scrounging for food and clean water and shuffling from shelter to shelter three days after Helene first made landfall in Florida.
    Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 1 Oct. 2024
Definition of shuffling
Verb
  • Khaled stood atop their Citroen van, lashing down overstuffed suitcases with rope.
    Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2024
  • Khaled stood atop their Citroen van, lashing down overstuffed suitcases with rope.
    Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2024
Definition of lashing
Verb
  • As Moser told me, his team constantly is doing user-centric research inside people’s homes, attempting to better understand what potential customers may need or want with a certain product.
    Steven Aquino, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
  • The growth of peer-to-peer marketplaces is a trend to watch in 2025 as brands are tasked with doing more with the same—or even fewer—resources and fashioning new revenue streams to drive better business outcomes.
    Kristen Dolan, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2024
Definition of doing
Verb
  • But beating the Eagles — on the road and in a short week — would certify Washington in a way the previous 10 weeks haven’t.
    Rohan Nadkarni, NBC News, 14 Nov. 2024
  • The finance sector has had a blowout year, with major banks beating expectations on strong revenue growth, continued net interest income strength, and favorable projections through year’s end and into 2025.
    Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 13 Nov. 2024
Definition of beating
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near messing (up)

messing over

messing (up)

messing (with)

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Messing (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messing%20%28up%29. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

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