messily
1
1.4
- adverb
- /ˈmɛsɪli/
:
desordenadamente
- Great loops of coaxial cable emerged from the computers, zigzagging up the columns to the backbone cable tacked messily to the ceiling.
- ended messily
- hair swept messily
- rather messily
Examples
-
It was the same way she used to fill in coloring books: quickly, messily, veering out of the lines.
Fiction book (2002) -
Wearing thick glasses, behind which her eyes appeared slightly crossed, Tara had long, tousled hair that she wore messily swept back into a large cotton ponytail holder.
Academic text (2012) -
Her hair was pinned up messily against the heat.
Fiction book (1999) -
This month I am going to write messily and hard, barely a pause to edit.
Blog text (12) -
No, this story ends messily, in uncertainty, with a bunch of kids going back to school to resume their normal day-to-day lives.
Fiction book (1995) -
The baby wears an oversized t-shirt under what looks like a little bathrobe, and messily eats a chocolate bar.
Fiction book (2001) -
The children played messily in the mud, leaving their clothes covered in dirt.
-
She untangled her necklace messily, struggling with the knots as she sat on the floor.
-
The painter left his brushes messily scattered across the table after finishing the artwork.
Synonyms
9
6.1
In a way that is not planned or organized
5
2.9
In a careless, untidy way that makes things messy
1
8.2
In a random, messy way without a plan
1
3.4
In a messy way that is not neat
1
9.9
In a messy, mixed-up way with things in no order
In a messy, disorganized way
In a messy, untidy way
In a messy, untidy way, especially about clothes or hair
Antonyms
How Messy
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Messily comes from messy, which comes from mess, meaning 'a dirty or untidy state', and the ending -ly turns it into a word that shows how something is done. So to do something messily is to do it 'in a messy or untidy way'.