Word.ws English Dictionary

kill the messenger

kill the messenger is the alternative form of shoot the messenger.

Meaning of shoot the messenger

Verb

shoot the messenger (third-person singular simple present shoots the messenger, present participle shooting the messenger, simple past and past participle shot the messenger)

  1. (humorous, idiomatic, sarcastic) To blame a problem on whoever reported it; to hold somebody accountable for a problem because they brought attention to it.
    • I know you won't like this news, but please don't shoot the messenger.

Forms of kill the messenger

third-person singular presentkills the messenger
present participlekilling the messenger
past participlekilled the messenger
pastkilled the messenger

Questions about kill the messenger

What is kill the messenger the alternative form of?
Kill the messenger is the alternative form of shoot the messenger.

Words near kill the messenger in the dictionary

  1. kill switches
  2. kill team
  3. kill teams
  4. kill the fatted calf
  5. kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
  6. kill the messenger
  7. kill the rabbit
  8. kill time
  9. kill trees
  10. kill two birds with one shot
  11. kill two birds with one stone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kill the messenger (page history and authors); 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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Cite this entry: “kill the messenger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kill_the_messenger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.