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screwing up

VERB

make a mess of

Synonyms

STRONGEST

botch bungle confuse flub muddle spoil

WEAK

blow bobble bollix foul up goof goof up louse make hash of mess mess up mishandle mismanage muck up muff snafu

Antonyms

STRONGEST

clear up do well enlighten explain order organize succeed

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.

“You can’t have a career without having stumbles or screwing up — that’s just part of life,” he tells me.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

"We need to refocus our efforts on screwing up mitosis -- on making chromosomal segregation worse."

From Science Daily • Oct. 26, 2023

The awkwardness of screwing up in front of strangers, butchering their language and sweating while you raid the mind’s dusty corners for a verb conjugation, is not to be found here.

From Slate • Jul. 25, 2023

There's a fear in some of us of screwing up a traditional cuisine, of ticking off the family or doing it wrong and embarrassing ourselves.

From Salon • May 13, 2023

A girl whose face was screwing up in the ugliest way, tears starting to stream from her eyes.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin