1. A state of confusion and disorderliness
   "the house was a mess";
   - messiness, muss [N. Amer, informal], mussiness
    
2. A meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel
   "The soldiers gathered in the mess for dinner"
    
3. Soft semiliquid food
   "a mess of porridge"
    
4. (often followed by ‘of’) a large number, amount or extent
   "a mess of letters";
   - batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mickle [archaic], mountain, muckle, passel [US], peck, pile [informal], plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack [informal], tidy sum, wad, bunch [informal], scad [N. Amer, informal]
    
5. [informal] A problematic situation or predicament
   "he got into a terrible mess";
   - fix [informal], hole [informal], jam [informal], muddle [informal], pickle [informal], kettle of fish [informal], difficulty
    
6. (military) a (large) military dining room where service personnel eat or relax
   "The soldiers gathered in the mess hall for their evening meal";
   - mess hall

1. Make a mess of or create disorder in
   "He messed up his room";
   - mess up
    
2. (military) eat in a mess hall
   "The soldiers messed together every evening"
    
3. Intrude in other people's affairs or business; interfere unwantedly
   "Don't mess with my affairs";
   - meddle, tamper, intermeddle

Derived forms: messing, messed, messes

Type of: aliment [archaic], difficultness, difficulty, dining room, dining-room, disarray, disorder, disorderliness, eat, interfere, interpose, intervene, large indefinite amount, large indefinite quantity, meal, nourishment, nutriment, nutrition, repast, step in, sustenance, victuals, vittles [archaic]

Encyclopedia: Mess