Word.ws English Dictionary

shoots the messenger

shoots the messenger is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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.

Questions about shoots the messenger

What is shoots the messenger the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Shoots the messenger is the third-person singular simple present indicative of shoot the messenger.

Words near shoots the messenger in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shoots 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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “shoots the messenger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shoots_the_messenger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.