as in to fumble
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
I swear, she mucks up everything she tries
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of muck up
Part of that journey was squaring Montoya’s goal of playing entertaining, attacking soccer with mucking up the game.
—
Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024
Draymond Green, who has been terrific this season defensively, constantly mucked up the paint with rotations.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2024
This wouldn’t be the first time such a discrepancy mucks up the MCU.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 26 July 2024
Stock market The stock market is off to its best start to a year since 1997 but a massive dockworkers strike underway in the US could muck up some of that progress, economists say.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN, 2 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for muck up 
Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 13 Nov. 2024
Draymond Green, who has been terrific this season defensively, constantly mucked up the paint with rotations.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2024
This wouldn’t be the first time such a discrepancy mucks up the MCU.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Vulture, 26 July 2024
Stock market The stock market is off to its best start to a year since 1997 but a massive dockworkers strike underway in the US could muck up some of that progress, economists say.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN, 2 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for muck up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muck up
Verb
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Now, contrast that to the recent experience of Ravens tight end Mark Andrews who, as every devoted local football fan will recall, both fumbled and dropped a crucial two-point conversion pass in a must-win playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.—
Baltimore Sun Editorial Board,
Orlando Sentinel,
25 Jan. 2025
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Like Fuhrman, many were nervous about teachers fumbling over technology and classmates not paying attention.—
Daniel Miller,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Jan. 2025
Verb
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The Eagles defense also uncharacteristically blew several coverages in Week 16, including on two of Daniels’ five touchdown passes.—
Ted Nguyen,
The Athletic,
23 Jan. 2025
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Is this a lot of hocus pocus or a computational paradigm that might blow current capabilities out of the water and make NVDA look like, well, Intel of prior years?—
Vineer Bhansali,
Forbes,
23 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Robby doesn’t want to involve the police and screw up David’s life if this is a false alarm, or there’s still a chance to talk to the kid.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
16 Jan. 2025
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When politicians screw up on a public stage, those blunders can be, at best, meme-ified and, at worst, career-ending.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
Newsweek,
31 Dec. 2024
Verb
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For just one of 67 counties to use the wrong one could foul up an entire statewide count.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
6 Jan. 2024
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See the stunning shot... AIRLINE 'CHAOS' – A flight was canceled after someone fouled up the aircraft amid delays.—
Fox News Staff,
Fox News,
19 Oct. 2023
Verb
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Sign up » Nonfiction In the past fifteen years, an avalanche of literature has been published about how technology has ruined our attention spans.—
The New Yorker,
The New Yorker,
22 Jan. 2025
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However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families.—
Tanasia Kenney,
Miami Herald,
22 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Now, it’s been booted down to #2 for the second time, and not just by a night of WWE RAW.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes,
17 Jan. 2025
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The stock, which was booted from the Dow in November, is still down more than 50% in the last 12 months.—
Pia Singh,
CNBC,
17 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near muck up
Cite this Entry
“Muck up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muck%20up. Accessed 2 Feb. 2025.
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