messing around

verb

present participle of mess around
1
as in fiddling (around)
to spend time in aimless activity spent the vacation day just messing around

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in flirting
to show a sexual attraction for someone just for fun a guy who goes to the health club mainly to mess around with the women

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in traveling
to come or be together as friends if you continue to mess around with such narrow-minded boobs, you'll begin to think and act like them

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of messing around There will be no more messing around with draggy eye pencils or the emperor’s new eye shadows. — Elizabeth Siegel, Allure, 17 Sep. 2026 Both of France’s sons seem to appreciate imaginative play over messing around with action figures, something that makes perfect sense given France’s own love for the arts. — Marah Eakin, Vulture, 8 Sep. 2026 Take note at the point in a song when the real dancers stop messing around. — Vinson Cunningham, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026 Shortly after Bednar began messing around with a splitter, Eric Junge, San Diego’s pitching coordinator, informed him that Hideo Nomo had arrived in camp. — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 6 Sep. 2026 These folks aren’t messing around; everyone is willing to shell out for the best possible experience. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 5 Sep. 2026 And, the school wasn’t messing around with the secretiveness of the open practice for those who either received a ticket or media members in attendance. — Trey Wallace Outkick, FOXNews.com, 12 Aug. 2026 The buckle on the Jordan clogs is a great touch, and the arch support isn’t messing around. — Annie Blackman, InStyle, 9 Aug. 2026 The Chicago Cubs weren’t messing around at the trade deadline. — Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for messing around
  1. playing
  2. flirting
  3. traveling
  4. fooling around
  5. associating
  6. hanging about
  7. hooking up
  8. kicking around
Verb
  • Each has the perspective of attending East Side schools, playing football and returning to teach and coach at the high school.
    — Tom Strong, Chicago Tribune, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The main reason the Giants have a chance to win every week, though, despite all their injuries and heart-stopping endings, is that Jameis Winston is playing well as their starting quarterback.
    — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of playing
Verb
  • After flirting with near-record heat in recent days, Kansas City will get a cool, gray taste of fall on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 14 Oct. 2026
  • Representations and Acknowledgements • Saeed and Molly, the two other junior associates at Taylor & Byrne, seem to be scoping out Johnny for their own uses; Molly, for her part, has already activated some light flirting.
    — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of flirting
Verb
  • The festival also reflected the growing importance of music tourism, with international audiences increasingly traveling for experiences that combine music, culture and destination.
    — Peony Hirwani, Billboard, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Maya runs away from her pain by traveling the world, first to Portugal and then to London and Japan, but an unexpected romance forces her to confront her past and realize that there may be more than one love of her life.
    — Ellise Shafer, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of traveling
Verb
  • Zeus did not approve of his daughter fooling around with this mortal roughneck hunter and put out a hit on Orion.
    — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 8 Mar. 2026
  • The transition was rough for Ansari, who wasn’t fluent in English and often got in trouble for fooling around in school.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2026
Definition of fooling around
Verb
  • These immediate, positive reinforcements can help the brain begin associating the healthier behavior with something rewarding.
    — Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 12 Oct. 2026
  • His family said Carbone specialized in securing endorsement deals for artists who never had considered associating themselves with consumer products.
    — Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of associating
Verb
  • President James Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau, died by hanging about five months after he was convicted of murder.
    — USA Today, USA Today, 17 June 2026
  • In 2019, city employees began hanging about 500 trick-or-treat pumpkin buckets in the trees on Main Street every October.
    — Elliott Harrell, Travel + Leisure, 18 Oct. 2025
Definition of hanging about
Verb
  • Leinart, the biggest star among them, was hanging out with Nick Lachey and hooking up with Paris Hilton.
    — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The passage about the group of hippies going out to the pueblo and giving the Native kids LSD and hooking up on the tribe’s sacred ground until they get run off is priceless.
    — Maggie McGowan, The New York Review of Books, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of hooking up
Verb
  • In other words, the idea of turning roads into giant wireless chargers has been kicking around for years, and some projects are now producing encouraging results rather than just concept illustrations.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 18 Oct. 2026
  • Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask has been kicking around Allure editors’ nightstands for years, and judging by its 2025 Readers’ Choice Award, plenty of you are just as hooked.
    — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of kicking around

Browse Nearby Words

messing
messing around
messing over
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Cite this Entry

“Messing around.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/messing%20around. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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