What does “screw up” mean?
screw up
Oh, this one's super common!
"Screw up" means to make a mistake or do something badly. It can describe a small error or a really big one — it works for both.
So imagine you're baking a cake and you add salt instead of sugar. You'd say, "Oh no, I totally screwed up the cake." Or maybe your friend forgot an important meeting — you could say, "He really screwed up this time."
You can also use it to talk about yourself in a humble, honest way. Like, "Sorry, that was my fault — I screwed up." It sounds natural and real, not too formal, not too rude.
It can also be a noun — a "screw-up" is the mistake itself, like "That was a big screw-up."
Basically, it just means you messed something up!
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