message

[ mes-ij ]
See synonyms for message on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a communication containing some information, news, advice, request, or the like, sent by messenger, telephone, email, or other means.

  2. an official communication, as from a chief executive to a legislative body: the president's message to Congress.

  1. Digital Technology. a post or reply on an online message board.

  2. the inspired utterance of a prophet or sage.

  3. the point, moral, or meaning of a gesture, utterance, novel, motion picture, etc.

  4. Computers. a warning, permission, etc., communicated by the system or software to the user: an error message;a message to allow blocked content.

verb (used without object)
  1. to send a message, especially an electronic message.

verb (used with object)
  1. to send (a person) a message.

  2. to send as a message.

Idioms about message

  1. get the message, Informal. to understand or comprehend, especially to infer the correct meaning from circumstances, hints, etc.: If we don't invite him to the party, maybe he'll get the message.

Origin of message

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin missāticum (unrecorded), equivalent to Latin miss(us) “sent” (past participle of mittere “to send”) + -āticum -age

Other words from message

  • in·ter·mes·sage, noun, adjective

Words that may be confused with message

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use message in a sentence

  • Captain Duffield wrote two messages, giving one to Harry, and the other to the soldier who was to accompany him.

  • As there were no telegraph lines, another way had to be provided by which messages might be quickly sent.

    Our Little Korean Cousin | H. Lee M. Pike
  • In France these reports would have been impersonal messages arriving from afar.

  • No one knows better than we do how much store K. sets on having all these messages addressed to him personally.

  • She was to tell him that he might go into the room, but he did not move, and Mary alone went in and out with messages.

    The Daisy Chain | Charlotte Yonge

British Dictionary definitions for message

message

/ (ˈmɛsɪdʒ) /


noun
  1. a communication, usually brief, from one person or group to another

  2. an implicit meaning or moral, as in a work of art

  1. a formal communiqué

  2. an inspired communication of a prophet or religious leader

  3. a mission; errand

  4. (plural) Scot shopping: going for the messages

  5. get the message informal to understand what is meant

verb
  1. (tr) to send as a message, esp to signal (a plan, etc)

Origin of message

1
C13: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin missāticum (unattested) something sent, from Latin missus, past participle of mittere to send

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with message

message

see get the message.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.