messy

messy

See also: Messy

English

Etymology

From mess +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛsi/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsi
• Hyphenation: messy
• Homophone: Messi

Adjective

messy (comparative messier, superlative messiest)

1. (of a place, situation, person, etc) In a disorderly state; chaotic; disorderly.
   • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory.

   a messy office

   Jim ran his fingers through his messy brown hair.

2. (of a person) Prone to causing mess.

   He is the messiest person I've ever met.

3. (of a situation) Difficult or unpleasant to deal with.

   a messy divorce

Synonyms

(in a disorderly state): untidy, chaotic, disorderly, cluttered

Antonyms

• neat
• orderly

Derived terms

• messily
• messiness

Descendants

• → German: Messie

Translations

in a disorderly state; causing mess or confusion; chaotic; disorderly

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Armenian: please add this translation if you can Belarusian: бязладны (bjazladny), неахайны (njeaxajny) Bulgarian: разхвърлян (bg) (razhvǎrljan) Catalan: desordenat, desendreçat Chinese: Mandarin: 凌亂／凌乱 (zh) (língluàn) Dutch: wanordelijk (nl), chaotisch (nl), rommelig (nl), warrig (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: sotkuinen (fi), sekainen (fi) French: désordonné (fr), désorganisé (fr), chaotique (fr) Georgian: ჭუჭყიანი (č̣uč̣q̇iani) German: chaotisch (de), unordentlich (de) Greek: ακατάστατος (el) (akatástatos) Hebrew: חסר סדר‎ m (khasár séder), מבולגן‎ m (mevulgán) Hindi: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: rendetlen (hu) Icelandic: please add this translation if you can Indonesian: berantakan (id) Irish: míshlachtmhar, smeadráilte Italian: disordinato (it) Japanese: 乱雑な (ja) (らんざつな, ranzatsu na), きたない (ja) (kitanai) (dirty), ぐちゃぐちゃ (guchagucha) (sloppy) Khmer: រញ៉េរញ៉ៃ (rɔɔñeerɔɔñay) (disorderly) Korean: please add this translation if you can Krio: chaka-chaka Latin: incomptus Macedonian: неу́реден (neúreden), ра́сфрлен (rásfrlen) Malay: please add this translation if you can Maori: pōrohe, hahohaho, pūaweawe Plautdietsch: onkrakjt Polish: bałaganiarski (pl), zasyfiony (informal), niechlujny (pl) Portuguese: desorganizado (pt), bagunçado, caótico (pt), desordenado (pt) Romanian: dezordonat (ro), haotic (ro) Russian: беспоря́дочный (ru) (besporjádočnyj) (disorderly), гря́зный (ru) (grjáznyj) (dirty), неря́шливый (ru) (nerjášlivyj) (sloppy) Slovak: neupravený, rozhádzaný, v neporiadku, neuprataný Spanish: desordenado (es) Swedish: rorig Tamil: please add this translation if you can Thai: please add this translation if you can Turkish: darmadağınık (tr), karmakarışık (tr), (colloquial) karman çorman, pasaklı (tr) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: anniben (cy)

Further reading

• messy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• messy at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Symes

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Middle English

Noun

messy

1. Alternative form of messe