mess about
English
[edit]Verb
[edit]mess about (third-person singular simple present messes about, present participle messing about, simple past and past participle messed about)
- (intransitive) To misbehave
- Kids! Stop messing about and do your work!
- (intransitive) To be in a casual non-committal relationship
- Anna and I are just messing about; this isn't going to last.
- (transitive) To play with; to toy with; to waste the time of (a person).
- Stop messing me about and give me a straight answer!
Synonyms
[edit]- (all senses): mess around