Word.ws English Dictionary

shoot the messenger boy

shoot the messenger boy 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 shoot the messenger boy

third-person singular presentshoots the messenger boy
present participleshooting the messenger boy
past participleshot the messenger boy
pastshot the messenger boy

Questions about shoot the messenger boy

What is shoot the messenger boy the alternative form of?
Shoot the messenger boy is the alternative form of shoot the messenger.

Words near shoot the messenger boy in the dictionary

  1. shoot the five
  2. shoot the gold
  3. shoot the lens
  4. shoot the lights out
  5. shoot the messenger
  6. shoot the messenger boy
  7. shoot the moon
  8. shoot the shit
  9. shoot through
  10. shoot through like a Bondi tram
  11. shoot trouble

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shoot the messenger boy (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: “shoot the messenger boy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shoot_the_messenger_boy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.