Word.ws English Dictionary

don't shoot the messenger

don't shoot the messenger proverb: the bearer of bad news should not be held accountable for it.

Proverb

don't shoot the messenger

  1. (humorous, sarcastic) The bearer of bad news should not be held accountable for it.

Questions about don't shoot the messenger

What does don't shoot the messenger mean?
Don't shoot the messenger means the bearer of bad news should not be held accountable for it.
What part of speech is don't shoot the messenger?
Don't shoot the messenger is a proverb.

Words near don't shoot the messenger in the dictionary

  1. don't ring us, we'll ring you
  2. don't say gay
  3. don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear
  4. don't shit in your own nest
  5. don't shit where you eat
  6. don't shoot the messenger
  7. don't spare the horses
  8. don't spend it all at once
  9. don't spend it all in one place
  10. don't sweat it
  11. don't sweat the small stuff

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: don't shoot the messenger (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-don't shoot the messenger.ogg, en-au-don't shoot the messenger.ogg.

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