How to Use mess up in a Sentence

mess up

verb
  • Jean had ideas for things that could get messed up as well.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 7 May 2026
  • That kinda gets messed up for us.
    — Chantz Martin, FOXNews.com, 30 Dec. 2025
  • That’s how people get messed up.
    — The Athletic Nfl Staff, New York Times, 28 Jan. 2026
  • They get messed up chatting with strangers.
    — Gideon Leek, The Atlantic, 13 Jan. 2026
  • There's also things that can get messed up.
    — Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Garlic bread is pretty hard to mess up.
    — Josh Miller, Southern Living, 16 Feb. 2026
  • Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life.
    — Melina Khan, USA Today, 4 June 2026
  • Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life.
    — Alessandra Codinha, InStyle, 3 June 2026
  • You're supposed to try things and mess up and try something else.
    — Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 1 June 2026
  • The hood is messed up, terrible.
    — Adam Sabes, FOXNews.com, 22 Apr. 2026
  • The hood is messed up, terrible.
    — Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 7 Apr. 2026
  • Y’all keep messing up the team chemistry.
    — Alex Zietlow, Charlotte Observer, 25 June 2026
  • But messing up somebody’s hair?
    — Jazmine Hughes, Allure, 24 Mar. 2026
  • The two messed up, leading to Welles' failure.
    — Lori A Bashian, FOXNews.com, 22 Dec. 2025
  • Think of ranch water as a dressed down margarita that's hard to mess up.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 27 Apr. 2026
  • The objective isn’t to rattle off 20 wins and mess up the odds.
    — C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 18 Feb. 2026
  • There’s some really messed up stuff happening at that farm.
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 2 May 2026
  • And, in these messed up times, that is extremely important.
    — Jim Ryan, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026
  • That’s where dynasties get made — or, more recently, get messed up.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 6 Apr. 2026
  • On the third goal, Jake Middleton messed up in the neutral zone.
    — Michael Russo, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2026
  • But even the most rigorous resolution-adopter will mess up at some point.
    — Gillian Mohney, Verywell Health, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Guardiola’s team miss so many chances, or mess up the last pass so often, that this seems unlikely.
    — James McNicholas, New York Times, 18 Mar. 2026
  • There is fear of messing up, fear of not being seen as intelligent and fear of failure.
    — Kansas City Star, 16 Jan. 2026
  • So for some people, Foundayo may be more convenient — and harder to mess up.
    — Sydney Lupkin, NPR, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Benchmarking is one of those things that sounds simple on paper but is incredibly easy to mess up.
    — Emad Rahim, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026
  • My cat took every opportunity to mess up the bed and contribute to the chaos.
    — Aliyah Rodriguez, The Spruce, 17 Feb. 2026
  • Why the Mavs might not do this is in case Morant resurges and messes up their draft situation this year.
    — Zach Harper, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026
  • That probably messed up our mindset and sparked a broader demand for new attractions.
    — Dewayne Bevil, The Orlando Sentinel, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Andreeva can hit eight beautiful shots in practice, then mess up the ninth, and beat herself up for the mistake.
    — Matthew Futterman, New York Times, 2 June 2026
  • The two continue fighting as Michael keeps insisting that Richie will mess up his kid.
    — Erin Jensen, USA Today, 8 May 2026

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.

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