mess
n. C / Un. a dirty or untidy state where things are not in their proper places. You can also use it to describe a difficult situation that is full of problems.
n. a state of disorder, untidiness, or confusion. Often used figuratively to describe a chaotic situation or a person in a state of emotional distress.
The kitchen is a total mess after baking that cake.
I tried to fix the plumbing myself, but I just made a huge mess and had to call a professional.
The legal team spent months untangling the mess created by the previous administration's failure to document their internal communications properly.
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”).
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”).
Commonly used with the verb 'make' ('make a mess') or 'be' ('be in a mess').
The room was very mess.The room was very messy.Learners often use the noun 'mess' as an adjective; 'messy' is the correct adjectival form.
- 01
lose the number of one's mess
To die, to perish.
- 02
mess of pottage
Something of trivial value, especially of immediate value.
- 03
sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage
To make an unfavorable exchange, especially of something of great, but deferred value, for something of very low, but immediate value.