Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of an object, plan or scheme, a disaster, a failure.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 187/2: Screw-up, n. A mix-up; any disruption of plans as the result of a blunder, treachery, or ill luck.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 11: Till you start losing a few grand on a screw-up?
1969		C. Sellers Where Have All the Soldiers Gone 27: Typical army screw-up.
1977		C. McFadden Serial 14: Everybody knew [...] that the rational mind was a screw-up.
1983		C. Heath A-Team 2 (1984) 64: I’m sure it was a screw-up at the flowershop.
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 308: It was your screw-up [...] You should have Grand Juried her.
2011		N. Johnson ‘Corpse by Any Other Name’ in Pulp Ink [ebook] Okay, looks like you took care of that particular screw-up.
2016		Vanity Fair 16 Mar. 🌐 Using the easily traceable Mercedes instead was a major screwup.
2020		D. Winslow ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 127: The only thing that ever made Hollis exceptional was his uncannily stupid screwups.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 243: Kelly — despite his numerous screw-ups — would drive the getaway car.

2. of a person, a failure, an incompetent.

1968		‘Richard Hooker’ M*A*S*H (2004) 133: We’re just a bunch of screwups from up the line.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
1999		Guardian Guide 29 May–4 June 52: These three screw-ups have survived every kind of [...] calamity known to man.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 319: That kind of thinkin makes you a screw-up.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 82: I’m not half the screwup I probably sound like.
2020		D. Winslow ‘The San Diego Zoo’ in Broken 140: My sergeant thinks I’m a chronic screwup, and he might not be wrong.