mess up — emotionally disturb
phrasal verbC1IELTS 7+informaloccasional
To cause someone emotional or psychological harm, distress, or long-term difficulties, often as a result of a traumatic or negative experience.
Say it like a native
Textbook The divorce caused him considerable psychological harm.
Native The divorce really messed him up.
'Mess up' captures lasting emotional damage in casual speech; the formal version is clinical.
Pattern: mess (someone) up
In use
- The constant criticism from her parents really messed her up as a teenager.psychology
- Some experts argue that exposure to violence at a young age can seriously mess children up, leading to long-term psychological issues.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ The accident messed up him for years.
✓ The accident messed him up for years.
With a pronoun, the object goes in the middle: 'messed him up'.
Common collocations
mess + someone + up— him up, you up, her up, kids up
Don't confuse it
Unlike the B1 senses, which refer to making a mistake or making something untidy, this sense is figurative and refers to causing emotional or psychological harm to a person.
Related
- mess up (make a mistake) — 'mess up' also has the more basic meaning 'make a mistake'; this is the advanced sense.