messing
SayMES-ing/ˈmɛsɪŋ/
- 1Present participle and gerund of mess.
He spent the whole weekend messing around with his old motorcycle.
After messing up the recipe twice, she finally ordered takeout.
Note
One -ing form serves two quite different families of meaning. Usually it belongs to the verb of disorder: transitive when something is ruined or soiled (messing up a recipe), intransitive when someone interferes. It is also the ordinary -ing form of the verb for taking meals together as a mess, so sailors messing together are sharing a table, not making trouble. As a gerund it works as a noun: messing with the settings broke it.
messing is a form of mess
mess, verb: To throw into disarray or spoil something completely. Full entry
- Spelling
- mess → messing: add -ing
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with messing, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.