mess
A thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty stateA thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation.
» Look at the mess we have here.
Подивись на весь цей безлад.
Meaning
13 senses(countable, uncountable)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.
Durcheinander, Unordnung, (totales) Chaos
беспоря́докbesporjádok, барда́кbardák, ме́сивоmésivo
бе́зладbézlad, плутани́наplutanýna, барда́кbardák
(colloquial, countable, uncountable)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.
(often followed by ‘of’) a large number or amount or extent
(countable, euphemistic, uncountable)Excrement.
There was dog mess all along the street.
Did you hear that? It scared the mess out of me.
(countable, figuratively, uncountable)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.
(collective)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 (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax
A building or room in which mess is eaten.
a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel
(India)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).
(US)The milk given by a cow at one milking.
(collective)A group of iguanas.
A dessert of fruit and cream, similar to a fool.
(obsolete)Mass; a church service.
Examples
1184 sentencesLook at the mess we have here.
Подивись на весь цей безлад.
It'll take forever to clean up this mess.
Розібратися в цьому безладі займе цілу вічність.
deEs wird ewig dauern, dieses Chaos zu bereinigen.
I think it's time for me to walk away from this mess.
Я вважаю, що прийшов час мені піти від цього безладу.
ruЯ думаю, что пришло время мне уйти от этого беспорядка.
Tom is a mess.
Тому — суцільна руїна.
I'm sorry for the mess.
Перепрошую за безлад.
ruИзвиняюсь за беспорядок.
Translations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (“mash”), compare muss, or derived from EtymolPerhaps 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”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: messesSynonyms
63 synonyms- a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax:mess hall
- a state of confusion and disorderliness:messinessmussmussiness
- informal terms for a difficult situation:fixholejammuddlepicklekettle of fish
- (often followed by ‘of’) a large number or amount or extent:batchdealflockgood dealgreat dealhatfulheaplot
Word family
18 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
Collocations
12 patterns- up this mess
- is a mess
- made a mess
- up the mess
- a mess of
- into this mess
- clean this mess
- messed up again
- a real mess
- of this mess
- want to mess
- for this mess