a meal eaten in a mess hall by service personnel
"The soldiers gathered their plates and lined up to get lunch from the mess."
(often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
"a batch of letters"
"a deal of trouble"
"a lot of money"
"he made a mint on the stock market"
"see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"
"it must have cost plenty"
"a slew of journalists"
"a wad of money"
A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding.
"The congregation stood in silence during the solemn mess to honor their fallen soldiers."
Mass; a church service.
In plain English: A mess is an untidy and disorganized state where things are scattered everywhere.
"The kitchen was such a mess after everyone ordered pizza for dinner."
Usage: Use the noun mess to describe physical clutter or chaotic situations caused by carelessness, such as a dirty kitchen after dinner. Avoid confusing this general state of disorder with specific types of confusion like "affect" and "effect," which apply only in different grammatical contexts.
To make untidy or dirty.
"The soldiers were ordered to return to their unit's mess to eat dinner together after training."
To take meals with a mess.
In plain English: To mess something means to make it dirty, disorganized, or ruined by careless actions.
"He always messes up his room before leaving for school."
The word likely originated as a corruption of the Middle English term mesh, meaning mash. It may have been influenced by related words describing mixed food given to animals or even dung in Old English.