Word.ws English Dictionary

shot the messenger

shot the messenger is the simple past and past participle 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 shot the messenger

What is shot the messenger the simple past and past participle of?
Shot the messenger is the simple past and past participle of shoot the messenger.

Words near shot the messenger in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shot 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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