Mess up means to make a mistake or to ruin something: I messed up means “I got it wrong”. The second meaning is to make something untidy: mess up the room, mess up your hair. It's informal but not rude, so people happily say it to colleagues.
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mess up (= make a mistake); mess something up; mess up + plan/exam/room/hair; mess with + somebody/something
- I messed up the first question, but the rest of the test went fine.
- Sorry, I messed up: I sent the file to the wrong client.
- The wind completely messed up my hair before the interview.
What changed
First versionI really messed up with the exam yesterday.
RevisionI really messed up the exam yesterday.
Mess up takes its object directly: messed up the exam. Adding with, as in messed up with the exam, is a common mistake. In informal American English people also say messed up on the exam, but with isn't used here.
Mess with isn't about making a mistake: it means to interfere with or touch something that isn't yours, or to provoke someone: Don't mess with my laptop, or Don't mess with him, meaning “don't get involved with him”. Mess around means to fool about: Stop messing around and do your homework.
Your turn
I forgot to save the file and ___ the whole presentation.
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messed up — The file wasn't saved and the presentation was ruined, so messed up. Messed with means fiddled with or interfered with, but here the point is the result: everything was lost.
Describe a small failure. Say what you messed up and how you fixed it afterwards.
I messed up my first pancake, so I turned the heat down and the next ones were perfect.
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