Showing results for mess around with. Search instead for messed+around+with.

mess around with

VERB

tamper

Synonyms

STRONGEST

meddle monkey with tinker

STRONG

busybody change cook cut damage destroy diversify doctor fool interlope interpose intrude irrigate manipulate plant spike vary water

WEAK

butt in fiddle with horn in monkey around muck about phony up poke nose into

Antonyms

STRONG

improve leave alone remain repair stay

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“We have an ironclad rule at IMAX, which is that our word is our word and we won’t mess around with that,” the CEO said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

“I am president, and he’s not going to mess around with me,” he added.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 14, 2025

The part they don’t mess around with is an assurance that Gibson hasn’t been paid for her story.

From Salon • Feb. 7, 2025

Plenty of series mess around with television’s narrative structures or genre conventions, but this show is willing to break the most basic visual conventions of how you put humans together onscreen.

From New York Times • Jun. 19, 2023

“I’m out of practice, retired; it’s been three years, you can’t mess around with these resurrection recipes; one little ingredient wrong, the whole thing blows up in your face.”

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

mess around with

Example Sentences

Related Words