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Disorderly vs Messy - What's the difference?

disorderly | messy |

As adjectives the difference between disorderly and messy

is that disorderly is not in order; marked by disorder or disarray while messy is in a disorderly state; chaotic; disorderly.

disorderly

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Not in order; marked by disorder or disarray.
    • The books and papers are in a disorderly state.
  • Not acting in an orderly way, as the functions of the body or mind.
  • Not complying with the restraints of order and law; unruly; lawless.
    • disorderly''' people; '''disorderly assemblies
  • (legal) Offensive to good morals and public decency.
    • a disorderly house

    Derived terms

    * disorderliness

    messy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • In a disorderly state; chaotic; disorderly.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory.}}
  • (of a person) Prone to causing mess.
  • (of a situation) Difficult or unpleasant to deal with.

    • Synonyms

    (in a disorderly state) untidy, chaotic, disorderly, cluttered

    Antonyms

    * neat * orderly

    Derived terms

    * messily * messiness

    Descendants

    * German: (l)

    External links

    * *