Meaning & use
messing
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“messing” is a form of “mess”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbintransitiveinformal
Spending time in a playful or aimless way, doing nothing serious, often with 'around' or 'about'.
Grammar: Usually followed by around or about: they were messing around in the yard.
Patterns
- messing around
- messing about
- messing around with something
The kids were messing around in the yard all afternoon.
Stop messing about and help me carry these boxes.
He spent the weekend messing around with his old guitar.
verbtransitiveinformal
Making something dirty or untidy, or spoiling it by handling it carelessly.
Grammar: Often used with up or with: messing up the kitchen; messing with the settings.
Patterns
- messing something up
- messing with something
Who has been messing up my desk again?
She kept messing with the settings until the phone stopped working.
He is messing up the whole plan by arriving late.
verbintransitiveinformal
Treating someone in an unfair, annoying or deceptive way, or dealing with them in a way that causes trouble.
Grammar: Followed by with: don't go messing with her.
Patterns
- messing with someone
He is messing with you; he is only joking.
Don't go messing with the neighbors, because they will complain.
Word forms
| base form | mess |
|---|---|
| third person singular | messes |
| past tense | messed |
| past participle | messed |
Common combinations
- messing around
- They were just messing around on the swings.
- messing about
- Stop messing about and get on with it.
- messing up
- I keep messing up the dance steps.
- messing with someone
- Are you messing with me right now?
- messing with the settings
- He broke the tablet by messing with the settings.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fooling around
- Fooling around is very close in sense to messing around, but it can also hint at flirting, which messing does not.
- playing about
- Playing about suggests innocent fun, while messing about can also sound annoying or careless.
- tampering
- Tampering is more formal and suggests interfering with something to damage or change it, while messing with is casual.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: messing or missing?
messing vs missing
Missing means absent or lost. Messing means playing around or making a mess.
Practice
Complete the sentence: 'The children are ___ in the garden instead of doing their homework.'
Choose one answer.
Messing around means playing without a serious purpose. The other options are not natural phrasal verbs with this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “messing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.