MESSES AROUND Synonyms: 116 Similar and Opposite Words

messes around

verb

present tense third-person singular of mess around

as in plays

to spend time in aimless activity spent the vacation day just messing around

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in flirts

to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women

Synonyms & Similar Words

as in travels

to come or be together as friends if you continue to mess around with such narrow-minded boobs, you'll begin to think and act like them

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of messes around Other standouts include a Maybelline mascara and a Black and Decker handheld vacuum, which makes quick work of small messes around the house and in the car. — Isabel Garcia, PEOPLE, 30 Jan. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for messes around

Verb

Kim plays Seo Yeon-woo, the strategist behind Jeong’s push for revenge, bringing a sharp eye for judgment and motives all his own.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 26 Aug. 2026
Music, David said, plays a significant role in his recovery process.

— Bianna Golodryga, CNN Money, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of plays

Verb

Hal flirts with Kerry; John has an affair with Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), the wife of William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), a local cattle mogul whose compound has more high tech weaponry than a mere human would seem to need.

— Alison Herman, Variety, 14 Aug. 2026
Rachel dates a shoe store operator named Lou (Bob Hoskins), while Charlotte nurses a crush on her handsome young school bus driver and flirts with Catholicism to the chagrin of her Jewish mother.

— David Faris, TheWeek, 17 July 2026

Definition of flirts

Verb

Linebacker Weston Reis also came through for 2-0 Palos Verdes, which travels to Carson next Thursday in another challenging nonleague game.

— Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2026
The story follows Ana, a young Black French woman who, following the death of her grandmother, travels to her matriarch’s birth city of Belo Horizonte.

— Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of travels

Verb

Though the sisters are supposedly first-generation Italian American, no whiff of the old country hangs about Kay; Dorothy will at least spit out a few words in Italian.

— Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 10 Mar. 2026
Turquoise pearl, and azure line the space, and a cylindrical hanging light sculpture made of hundreds of white and gold ceramic fish hangs about the lounge seating area.

— Kristin Braswell, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Jan. 2026

Definition of hangs about

Verb

What being Southern meant to his father—and the values Duane associates with being a Southern gentleman.

— Sid Evans, Southern Living, 11 Aug. 2026
The productivity boom everyone associates with the personal computer didn’t actually show up in the macro data until 15 years after the PC was commercialized.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 July 2026

Definition of associates

Verb

Tony contains details directly pulled from Kitchen Confidential, including a memorable moment in which one of the cooks (Leo Woodall) hooks up with a bride who visits the restaurant immediately following her own wedding.

— Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 7 Aug. 2026
And Cody still comes out before the season starts and takes BP, hooks up the kids with some Nike stuff.

— Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 17 July 2026

Definition of hooks up

Verb

The property celebrates nature, with biophilic design that effortlessly connects guests with the sand, sea, and sky outside; fittingly, the signature experiences at Patina Maldives are rooted in communion with nature as well.

— Condé Nast Traveler, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Aug. 2026
The new solution connects with existing legal software such as iManage, NetDocuments, Docusign, and many others.

— Gene Marks, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2026

Definition of connects

Verb

The mop-haired actor plays Joey, a spunky boy onboard who bonds with Maddie over having absent parents in the military.

— Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026
Nigel Starck, too, argues that obituaries provide a glue that bonds society not in grief but in an aspirational reevaluation of our own lives.

— Sam Roberts, Longreads, 11 Aug. 2026

Definition of bonds

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messes

messes around

messes over

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“Messes around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messes%20around. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of messes around

verb

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