fouled up
Made a mess
Fouled up means ruined, bungled, or thrown into disorder.
Plans get fouled up, operations get fouled up, people get fouled up by circumstances beyond their control.
The phrase comes from nautical usage—a fouled anchor is one tangled in its own chain—but now applies to any situation gone wrong: The whole schedule got fouled up when the shipment didn't arrive.
Often a polite substitute for fucked up.
- bungledPerformed ineptly, failed
- messed upDisordered or badly handled
- screw upMake a mistake badly
- screwed the poochFailed catastrophically through carelessness
- botchedPoorly executed, spoiled
dropped the ball · mixed up · muddled · snafu · cluster fuck · mishandled · flub · cock up · human error · blunder · mismanaged · gone wrong · wrecked · negligence · tainted · mucked up · dirty · oversight
- blundersblunder, blunders, blundered, mistakes, botch
- botchedbotched, bungled, messed up, screwed up, mucked up
- brokenbroken, busted, broken down, out of order, not working
- off targetoff target, off-target, off the mark, wide of the mark, wide
fouled upflawless
Entirely without fault
perfect · pulled off · aced · spotless · succeeded
fouled upin order
Arranged as intended
sorted out · straightened out · fixed · in working order · squared away
foul, fowl, fouled, fouls, foulness, befoul, waterfowl, fouling, befouled