Mess around
Mess around verb - To spend time in aimless activity.
Work
Work verb - To devote serious and sustained effort.
Usage example: the organization has worked for years to raise people's awareness of human rights issues
Mess around is an antonym for work.
Both terms in one sentence
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It didn't work, but at least they were smart enough to not mess around with something so powerful.
Source: Film / Godzilla (2014) -
Cloudcuckoolander: Death Mwauthzyx likes to mess around with anything and anyone to the point that even the only method to stop him seemed like it didn't work, but he decided to just leave everyone alone anyway.
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All it took was one Iconian Portal to literally walk into Fluidic Space and mess around with the Undine, a race who simply wants to be left alone, enough times to get them to do all the rest of the work.
Source: Video Game / Star Trek Online
Cite this Source
Work and Mess around. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 22, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/mess_around/work
Mess around & Work. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/mess_around/work>.
Work or Mess around. 2016. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/mess_around/work.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "mess around" and "work" have occurred on timeline