mess

The EU’s new, electronic entry-exit system is a mess, except when it isn’t.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

“I just quit. I don’t want to mess with the therapist anymore,” Beaman told us this spring.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

Over time, they turn into an anxious mess, needing validation from the black-box algorithmic number.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

"It was this or nothing. You can't mess around, or you'll burn your eyes."

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

It had been rough going, with a lot of ruts and mud and the cart was a mess so I spent some time fixing it after I awakened, carving off the dried mud.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

The beds and food bowls are gone; the floor where they always left messes after devouring the grub I made them is eerily clean.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Inside, the dwelling features a traditional beach cottage aesthetic, with bright white walls, exposed wooden beams, and wood flooring—ideal for preventing any sandy messes after a long day on the beach.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026

"I write the scripts, I plan the scenes, and keep redoing things because the AI generation messes up constantly," they wrote.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026

The president sometimes messes with the reporters on the line or lets people around him eavesdrop on speakerphone.

From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2026

“For one, make sure our brothers and sisters know they can’t destroy black-owned businesses. That messes it up for all of us.”

From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

"I was looking at the screen and I saw the guy try and surge. But he ran a PB, so he's messed up with the final ahead."

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

It’s going to be easier for people who messed up on their taxes to get back in the good graces of the IRS.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026

Your evaluation of the movie will depend almost entirely on whether you find her enchantingly messed up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

Because her whole life, she’s been told, ‘You’re wrong, you’ve messed up, you’ve got things wrong.’

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

Then my life wouldn’t have been so messed up.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Right now, however, he looks like a kid who spent the morning messing around with his friends.

From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026

Elsewhere, the recent single American Girls gained a long, trippy intro, with Styles messing around on an old analogue keyboard, tweaking low pass filters and playing squiggly synth noises.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

“I just love messing around with different instruments and seeing all the different sounds I can make,” she says.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

In defending the inviolable status of Hollywood classics, Siskel and Ebert were taking a stand against messing with cultural artifacts.

From Salon ● May 8, 2026

Mr. Powell tells me to wait after class, and I’m nervous all over again that he’s going to tell me this is what he warned me about and I better stop messing up.

From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée