Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mess around

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.54 in modern English

Syllables: mess around
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

1

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To fiddle idly.

Informal

verb

To joke, kid, or play.

Informal

verb

To have a sexual relationship, especially one which is noncommittal.

Informal

verb

Dated; Slang

Example Sentences

"The kids sat there messing around with leaves and blades of grass because they were bored."
"These guys don't mess around! They finished the whole job in ten minutes."
"Hey, don't take it personally. I was only messing around."
"Don't mess around with electricity if you don't understand it."
"Rumor has it that he's messing around with his secretary."
"She grew up as the pretty young thing / Let them look up her skirt on the backyard swing, oh no / And Daddy told you to stay indoors / And I can understand how a girl gets bored / Too old to play and too young to mess around"

Usage

Inflected Forms

messes around (present, singular) messing around (participle, present) messed around (participle, past) messed around (past)

Phrases

mess with

Frequently Paired Words

mess with

Synonyms

mess about faff about dick around waste time putter potter tinker monkey monkey around muck about muck around

Questions

What does mess around mean?: To fiddle idly.

How to pronounce mess around

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