mess

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. difficulty, predicament; disorder, litter, jumble; botch. See failure, food. —v. dishevel, mess up; litter, clutter; disarrange, disorder.Ant., order.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [A mixture]

Syn. combination, compound, blend; see mash , mixture 1 .

2. [A confusion]

Syn. jumble, mayhem, hodgepodge*; see confusion 2 , disorder 2 .

3. [Military term for meals]

Syn. rations, chow*, grub*; see meal 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. clutter jumble, disorder, disarray, litter, eyesore, debris, unsightliness, dump, mayhem, pigpen, filth, *rat's nest.

2. predicament trouble, plight, difficulty, *pickle, *jam, fix, stew, *fine kettle of fish, quandary.

ANT.: 1. order, neatness, tidiness

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. A group of things gathered haphazardly: agglomeration, bank1, cumulus, drift, heap, hill, mass, mound, mountain, pile, shock2, stack, tumble. See ORDER. 2. A lack of order or regular arrangement: chaos, clutter, con-fusedness, confusion, derangement, disarrangement, disarray, disorder, disorderedness, disorderliness, disorganization, jumble, mix-up, muddle, muss, scramble, topsy-turviness, tumble. Slang: snafu. See ORDER. 3. A ruinous state of disorder: botch, foul-up, muddle, shambles. Informal: hash. Slang: screwup, snafu. See CORRECT, ORDER. 4. An unsightly object: monstrosity, ugliness. Informal: fright, sight, ugly. See BEAUTIFUL. 5. An individual quantity of food: helping, portion, serving. See INGESTION. II verb 1. To handle something idly, igno-rantly, or destructively: fiddle, fool, meddle, tamper, tinker. Informal: monkey. See HELP, TOUCH. 2. To put (the hair or clothes) into a state of disarray. Also used with up: disarrange, dishevel, disorder, muss (up), rumple, tousle. See ORDER.