Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

shoot the messenger

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.88 in modern English

Syllables
shoot the mes-sen-ger
IPA
26
Scrabble Score
17
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To blame a problem on whoever reported it; to hold somebody accountable for a problem because they brought attention to it.

Humorous

Example Sentences

Usage

Inflected Forms

shoots the messenger (present, singular) shooting the messenger (participle, present) shot the messenger (participle, past) shot the messenger (past) kill the messenger (alternative) shoot the messenger boy (alternative)

Questions

What does shoot the messenger mean?
To blame a problem on whoever reported it; to hold somebody accountable for a problem because they brought attention to it.

How to pronounce shoot the messenger

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “shoot the messenger”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “shoot the messenger”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “shoot the messenger” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.