shoot the messenger
shoot the messenger verb: to blame a problem on whoever reported it; to hold somebody accountable for a problem because they brought attention to it.
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)
- 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 shoot the messenger
| third-person singular present | shoots the messenger |
|---|---|
| present participle | shooting the messenger |
| past participle | shot the messenger |
| past | shot the messenger |
| alternative form | kill the messenger |
| alternative form | shoot the messenger boy |
Questions about shoot the messenger
- What does shoot the messenger mean?
- Shoot the messenger means to blame a problem on whoever reported it; to hold somebody accountable for a problem because they brought attention to it.
- What part of speech is shoot the messenger?
- Shoot the messenger is a verb.
- What is the past tense of shoot the messenger?
- The past tense of shoot the messenger is shot the messenger.
Words near shoot the messenger in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: 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-au-shoot the messenger.ogg.
Cite this entry: “shoot the messenger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shoot_the_messenger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.