Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use muss in a sentence

11 example sentences · verb, noun

Muss means to rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy. Example: “The old man affectionately mussed his grandson's hair.”

Examples of muss by meaning

verbTo rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.

  • The old man affectionately mussed his grandson's hair.

More sentences with muss

  • Even his mussed cravat and cow licked hair had a "just folks" quality.1961, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, →OCLC, page 43. From the entry just folks
  • “With the clean uniforms from your wall locker you didnt want to get mussed up.1951, James Jones, From Here to Eternity, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 4. From the entry didnt
  • There's a Costco-sized vat of hair clay to keep his hair mussed just so, no matter the constant rain.2020 September 22, Rob Mahoney, “But Seriously, What’s in the Box”, in The Ringer. From the entry Pinterestian
  • The organist chose Brahms for the processional—“O Welt ich muss dich lassen”; “O world I must leave you.”1989, John Irving, chapter 6, in A Prayer for Owen Meaney, Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, page 250. From the entry processional
  • Lissen, Da Big Man muss be n'town.1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 124. From the entry eyeful
  • They muss our Monday washing up; on Tuesdays steal our tubs; a most distressful nuisance are these soilsome, spoilsome Blubs.1918, St. Nicholas, Volume 45, Part 2. From the entry spoilsome
  • Philosophy can achieve its ultimate goal only by becoming “popularized” or, in Cieszkowski’s oxymorous expression, “Sie muss sich in die Tiefe verflachen.”1979, Louis Dupré, “Rationality in Marx’s Concept of History”, in Theodore F. Geraets, editor, Rationality To-day (Collection…. From the entry oxymorous
  • The tribulations of a celluloid cutie are minor items when two brontosauri begin to muss up a whole forest in mortal combat.1925 February 21, “Moving Pictures”, in The New Yorker, volume 1, number 1, New York City, New York, United States: F-R Pub. Corp., →ISSN…. From the entry brontosauri
  • It sticks its dry, sharp fingers into the corners of my eyes, making me cry unsad tears, & it musses my carefully-arranged flirty skirts like a too-eager highschool boyfriend.1999 August 22, Ladybee, “Hideousness!!! (kinda long rant)”, in alt.gothic.fashion (Usenet). From the entry unsad
  • They mussed up my hair again.” (laughter) “"Aw, my hairdo ain't purdy."” (laughter) “Sorry about the rowdy customers, but what can I do?” “Just keep helping me up, I guess.”2017 September 11, Brian Boyle, “West to Mexico” (4:27 from the start), in American Dad!, season 14, episode 22, spoken by Francine Smith…. From the entry mussed up

Meaning of muss

  1. verb To rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.
  2. noun A mess (disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; disorder).
  3. noun A scramble, as when small objects are thrown down, to be taken by those who can seize them; a confused struggle.

Full definition of muss

Questions about muss in a sentence

How do you use muss in a sentence?
Muss is used as a verb and noun. For example: “The old man affectionately mussed his grandson's hair.”
What is a short sentence with muss?
“Lissen, Da Big Man muss be n'town.”
What does muss mean?
Muss means to rumple, tousle or make (something) untidy.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: muss (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use muss in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/muss. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.