Crossword Genius

In sum, a mess-up causing ill-will (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

animus

'ill-will' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'in sum a mess-up' is the wordplay.
'mess up' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'messed up' mean this).
'in'+'sum'+'a'='insuma'
'insuma' is an anagram of 'ANIMUS'.

'causing' is the link.

(Other definitions for animus that I've seen before include "Hostility, bad feeling toward" , "Hostile spirit in speech or action" , "Deep-seated hostility or vital force" , "Feeling of strong dislike" , "Hostile feeling" .)

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