- mess
- nounADJECTIVE▪ absolute, complete, fine (esp. AmE), hopeless, real, royal (esp. AmE), total, utter▪
I got myself into a complete mess.
▪ entire, whole▪You started this entire mess!
▪ appalling (BrE), awful, horrible, nasty, stupid, terrible, ugly, unholy▪ big, giant, huge▪The whole situation is a giant mess.
▪I'm in a huge mess. I don't know what to do.
▪ complicated, confusing, incoherent▪The plot is an incoherent mess.
▪ chaotic▪ jumbled, muddled (esp. AmE), tangled, untidy (BrE)▪Her hair was a tangled mess.
▪ bloody, disgusting, gooey, muddy, slimy, sloppy, soggy, sticky▪Soon both fighters were a bloody mess of flying punches.
▪Why don't you clean up this disgusting mess?
▪ emotional▪He's been an emotional mess since his girlfriend left him.
▪ economic, financialVERB + MESS▪ leave, make▪Must you always leave such a mess?
▪She felt she was making a terrible mess of her life.
▪ clean up, clear up, tidy up (esp. BrE), wipe up▪ look (BrE), look like (esp. AmE)▪ become▪My life's becoming a big mess.
▪ get (sb) into, get (sb) out of▪Who got us into this mess in the first place?
▪ cause, create, start▪That was what caused this whole mess in the first place.
▪ deal with, fix (AmE), resolve, sort out, straighten out▪I have to try to fix the mess you caused.
PREPOSITION▪ in a mess▪The kitchen's in an awful mess.
▪We found ourselves in a real mess.
▪ mess of▪She searched through the mess of papers on her desk. (esp. AmE)
PHRASES▪ make a mess of things▪I've really made a mess of things!
Collocations dictionary. 2013.