How to Use mess up in a Sentence

mess up

phrasal verb
Definition of mess upnext
  • The wiring had been messed up and my lights had stopped working.
    — Kunle Falayi, The Arizona Republic, 28 Feb. 2024
  • My mind is all messed up and my emotions are all over the map.
    — Minyvonne Burke, NBC News, 20 Mar. 2024
  • It’s headed our way, and it’s set to mess up most of the weekend around here.
    — Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 22 Sep. 2023
  • There are a few mistakes that could mess up your French toast.
    — Jessica Furniss, Southern Living, 20 Oct. 2023
  • The thing that easily could have been messed up wasn’t.
    — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 30 July 2024
  • The pandemic messed up so many lives and then stupid things like movies.
    — Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Maybe the local Keystone Kops of the Keystone State messed up.
    — Ron Hart, Orange County Register, 16 July 2024
  • Tiafoe passed to the other side of the net toward his chair and shouted that the umpire had messed up the match.
    — Adam Zagoria, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2024
  • That truly messes up what one side of the ball can do on the other team.
    — Cam Inman, The Mercury News, 25 Jan. 2024
  • This marks the third time an injury has messed up Shough’s season.
    — Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 30 Sep. 2023
  • In previous years, the mishap could have messed up her entire meet.
    — Glenn Graham, Baltimore Sun, 6 Feb. 2024
  • But, to assess the quote from Wilson on its merits: No, the Orioles did not mess up.
    — Jacob Calvin Meyer, Baltimore Sun, 17 June 2024
  • At its heart is the premise that the artist is very often formed in the cradle of their upbringing, whether messed up or not.
    — The Editors Of Artnews, ARTnews.com, 24 July 2024
  • The best lip crayons are one of the few products that are nearly impossible to mess up.
    — Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 26 Sep. 2024
  • Their accountant might have messed up and cost them some money.
    — Ben Flanagan | Bflanagan@al.com, al, 20 July 2023
  • Also, back in 2007, the kids felt a lot more like actual kids who sometimes sang off key and messed up dance steps.
    — Ross Raihala, Twin Cities, 2 Sep. 2024
  • Sometimes, [gymnasts] do timers and land on our necks or do certain things where our hair gets messed up.
    — Giana Levy, refinery29.com, 13 Aug. 2024
  • DiCaprio’s character, Ernest Burkhart, has messed up part of a larger plan to rob the Osage of its wealth.
    — Zack Sharf, Variety, 23 Oct. 2023
  • Rental cars can suffer from an excess of slammed doors and trunks—slamming the latter can mess up the powered strut.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 29 May 2024
  • But this technology in the real world messes up all the time.
    — Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 28 July 2023
  • Giving too much melatonin, or giving it at the wrong time, could mess up your child's sleep schedule.
    — Emily Elveru, Parents, 3 Aug. 2023
  • Affleck hilariously stands in the back to try to mess up his turn.
    — Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 12 Feb. 2024
  • That’s deeply messed up and would make the widespread voluntary wearing of hats even more baffling.
    — Vulture, 11 Sep. 2023
  • To most of the general public, short films are just the spanner that’ll always mess up your Oscars pool.
    — Jada Yuan, Washington Post, 3 Feb. 2024
  • Shift too many of those lithium ions out of the lithium cobalt oxide layer, and the whole structure of the layer messes up.
    — WIRED, 27 Oct. 2023
  • The French press method of making coffee is straightforward, cost-effective, easy to use, and hard to mess up.
    — Tyler Shane, WIRED, 6 May 2024
  • A lot of people mess up, which can be very aggravating.
    — Shari Rudavsky, The Indianapolis Star, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Does being a celebrity grant someone extra grace to mess up?
    — David Oliver, USA TODAY, 24 June 2024
  • Which also means this is the cheesecake that’s impossible to mess up.
    — The Bon Appétit Staff & Contributors, Bon Appétit, 6 Oct. 2023
  • The baby boomer kind of moving towards ‘the economy is messed up, uni-party, pedophiles.’ . . .
    — Charles Bethea, The New Yorker, 27 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mess up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: