- [countable, usually singular] a dirty or untidy state
- in a mess The room was in a mess.
- The kids made a mess in the bathroom.
- ‘What a mess!’ she said, surveying the scene after the party.
- My hair's a real mess!
Extra Examples- Must you always leave such a mess?
- Sorry, this place is a bit of a mess.
- Let's try to sort out the mess.
- Why don't you clean up this disgusting mess?
- They've left the most terrible mess in their bedrooms.
- She searched through the mess of papers on her desk.
- Soon both fighters were a bloody mess of flying punches.
- There was a soggy mess of porridge on the table.
- There was a tangled mess of wires under her desk.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- absolute
- complete
- fine
- …
- leave
- make
- clean up
- …
- in a mess
- mess of
- make a mess of things
- [countable, usually singular] a situation that is full of problems, usually because of a lack of organization or because of mistakes that somebody has made
- in a mess The economy is in a mess.
- a financial mess
- I feel I've made a mess of things.
- How did this whole mess start?
- Let's try to sort out the mess.
- How do we get out of this mess?
- The biggest question is how they got into this mess in the first place.
- (ironic) That’s another fine mess you’ve got us into.
- The entire event is a sorry mess.
Extra Examples- A new managing director has been appointed to clear up the financial mess.
- I got myself into a complete mess.
- I have to try to fix the mess you caused.
- I'm in a huge mess. I don't know what to do.
- My life's becoming a big mess.
- The whole situation is a giant mess.
- The plot is an incoherent mess.
- We found ourselves in a real mess.
- Who got us into this mess in the first place?
- You started this entire mess!
- There is still a way out of this economic mess.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- absolute
- complete
- fine
- …
- leave
- make
- clean up
- …
- in a mess
- mess of
- make a mess of things
- [singular] a person who is dirty or whose clothes and hair are not tidy
- You're a mess!
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- absolute
- complete
- fine
- …
- leave
- make
- clean up
- …
- in a mess
- mess of
- make a mess of things
- [singular] (informal) a person who has serious problems and is in a bad mental condition
- When my wife left me I was a total mess.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- absolute
- complete
- fine
- …
- leave
- make
- clean up
- …
- in a mess
- mess of
- make a mess of things
- [uncountable, countable] (informal) the excrement (= solid waste matter) of an animal, usually a dog or cat
- [singular] a mess of something (North American English, informal) a lot of something
- There's a mess of fish down there, so get your lines in the water.
- [countable] (also mess hall especially in North American English)a building or room in which members of the armed forces have their meals
- the officers’ mess
untidy state
difficult situation
person
animal waste
a lot
armed forces
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French mes ‘portion of food’, from late Latin missum ‘something put on the table’, past participle of mittere ‘send, put’. The original sense was ‘a serving of (semi-liquid) food’, later ‘liquid food for an animal’; this gave rise (early 19th cent.) to the senses ‘unappetizing concoction’ and ‘predicament’, on which senses 1, 3 and 4 are based. In late Middle English the term also denoted any of the small groups into which the company at a banquet was divided (who were served from the same dishes); hence, ‘a group who regularly eat together’ (recorded in military use from the mid 16th cent.).
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mess