balls up
Common in British, Australian, and New Zealand English, 'balls up' is a coarse slang expression used to describe a significant error or messy situation.
Definition
C1General
(slang, informal, vulgar)To spoil or ruin something through a mistake or incompetence.
Example
- He really balls up the presentation by forgetting the main points.
- Don't balls up this opportunity by being unprepared.
C1General
(slang, informal, vulgar)A situation that has been badly botched or muddled.
Example
- The entire project turned into a balls up due to poor planning.
- What a balls up! Everything that could go wrong did.
Similar
Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "balls up":
ball upballs aboutball downball offbowl upball outcrumple upblue ballsball of fluffnew ballno ballcurl upsquare balldrop the ballreturn ballbell uplong ballfree ballcue ballcramp ballred ballplain ballwhite ballcage ballbung upballs to the walltumble upbull uprucked upcaptain ballball sackroll uprumple upjam upplay ballair ballfoul uphide the ballbat aroundon the ballnothing balljump ballcuff upbawl outgo ballisticball alleyball of the thumbfly ballball returnbounce aroundjumble upsnarl uproll around