hot mess

noun

plural hot messes

informal : something or someone that is emphatically a mess: such as

: something in a state of extreme disorder or disarray

His latest outing, to a hot mess of a boutique hotel in New Mexico, is just as full of withering asides and bleeped-out F-bombs.—

TV Guide

: a disorganized, disheveled, or self-destructive person

She's a hard-drinking hot mess who scavenges the streets for castoff furniture and clothing that she spruces up and sometimes sells; how she survives in contemporary Los Angeles is one of the movie's biggest mysteries.—

Sheri Lindenn

also : such a person who is at the same time attractive or sexy

However, Everett actually is a hot mess when she performs. Her stage presence is erotic and chaotic, her big blond body wrapped in something low-cut and sheer. —

Molly Adams

archaic

: a hot dish especially of soft or pulpy food

… there was a stove over which our guides made a hot mess of flour and water which passed for soup.—

Edwin Swift Balch

: a hot mixture of ingredients cooked or eaten together

They were supping or breakfasting together off a hot mess of meat and vegetables, and rose up at our entrance, for the room boasted of a wooden bench and couple of ricketty stools.—

Henry Vizetelly

Examples of hot mess in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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.

Now a classic, that Heart of Darkness adaptation wrapped in the chaotic backdrop of Vietnam, was in its earliest showings considered as much a hot mess of radical ideas and imagery as Megalopolis. —

Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 26 Sep. 2024 The attempt is a literal hot mess and Seasmoke escapes. —

Omar L. Gallaga, Washington Post, 22 July 2024 Our immigration system is a hot mess and everyone knows it. —

Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 2024 Across the country, the weather is a hot mess, but some people are riding the heat wave without breaking a sweat. —

Charlie Carballo, WWD, 11 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for hot mess