mess.
A thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation.
Meaning & usage
A thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation.
He made a mess of it.
My bedroom is such a mess; I need to tidy up.
A large quantity or number.
My boss dumped a whole mess of projects on my desk today.
She brought back a mess of fish to fix for supper.
Excrement.
There was dog mess all along the street.
Did you hear that? It scared the mess out of me.
A person in a state of (especially emotional) turmoil or disarray; an emotional wreck.
Between the pain and the depression, I'm a mess.
He's been a mess and a half ever since you excommunicated him.
Where this word comes from
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“mash”), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 2 "mixed foods, as for animals". Compare also Old English mes (“dung, excrement”).
To make untidy or dirty. To make soiled by defecating.
To make untidy or dirty. To make soiled by ejaculating.
To throw into disorder or to ruin.
To interfere.
This doesn't concern you. Don't mess.
Where this word comes from
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“mash”), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 2 "mixed foods, as for animals". Compare also Old English mes (“dung, excrement”).
Mass; a church service.
A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; also, the food given to an animal at one time.
A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common, especially military personnel who eat at the same table.
the wardroom mess
A building or room in which mess is eaten.
a type of restaurant characterized by homely-style cooking and food.
A set of four (from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner).
The milk given by a cow at one milking.
A group of iguanas.
A dessert of fruit and cream, similar to a fool.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).
To take meals with a mess.
To belong to a mess.
To eat (with others).
I mess with the wardroom officers.
To supply with a mess.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English mes, partly from Old English mēse, mēose (“table”), a vernacular loan from Latin/Late Latin mē(n)sa (“table; meal”); and partly from Old French mes, Late Latin missum, from mittō (“to put, place (e.g. on the table)”). See mission, and compare Mass (“religious service”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.