Idiom
shoot the messenger
Meaning
To blame a problem on whoever reported it; to hold somebody accountable for a problem because they brought attention to it.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Please do not shoot the messenger for this bad news.”
“I know you are angry about the project delay, but please do not shoot the messenger.”
“While the manager was clearly frustrated by the sudden budget cuts, he wisely resisted the urge to shoot the messenger who delivered the report.”
Examples
simple
“Please do not shoot the messenger for this bad news.”
contextual
“I know you are angry about the project delay, but please do not shoot the messenger.”
complex
“While the manager was clearly frustrated by the sudden budget cuts, he wisely resisted the urge to shoot the messenger who delivered the report.”
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated