messenger

American  

[mes-uhn-jer] / ˈmɛs ən dʒər /

noun

• messengers
  plural

1. a person who carries a message or goes on an errand for another, especially as a matter of duty or business.

   Synonyms:

   courier, bearer

2. a person employed to convey official dispatches or to go on other official or special errands.

   a bank messenger.

3. Nautical.

   1. a rope or chain made into an endless belt to pull on an anchor cable or to drive machinery from some power source, as a capstan or winch.

   2. a light line by which a heavier line, as a hawser, can be pulled across a gap between a ship and a pier, a buoy, another ship, etc.

4. Oceanography. a brass weight sent down a line to actuate a Nansen bottle or other oceanographic instrument.

5. Archaic. a herald, forerunner, or harbinger.

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verb (used with object)

1. to send by messenger.

messenger British  

/ ˈmɛsɪndʒə /

noun

1. a person who takes messages from one person or group to another or others

2. a person who runs errands or is employed to run errands

3. a carrier of official dispatches; courier

4. nautical

   1. a light line used to haul in a heavy rope

   2. an endless belt of chain, rope, or cable, used on a powered winch to take off power

5. archaic a herald

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• messengers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of messenger

1175–1225; Middle English messager, messangere < Anglo-French; Old French messagier. See message, -er ²

Explanation

Use the noun messenger to refer to someone who brings you a message. Your mail carrier delivering a postcard and your gossipy friend calling to give you the latest news can each be described as a messenger. Delivering messages for others is certainly a time-honored profession, since even the gods of Antiquity needed someone to do it — the Greeks had Hermes and the Romans had Mercury as their messenger gods. A messenger carries a message, and that's where the word itself comes from: the Latin root of message is missus, which means "a sending away, sending, dispatching" and is the past participle of mittere, "send."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

messenger messengers

Because working-class voters, as they tell us themselves, are not simply waiting to be activated by the right program, messenger or phrase.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

Officials from the Montrose Search and Rescue reminded hikers to carry a satellite emergency communication device or other GPS messenger capable of sending their exact location.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

But Ms. Finley is shooting the messenger when she takes aim at TikTok.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

But research published in 2023 suggests this chemical messenger may also influence a small structure that performs a vital job during every heartbeat: the mitral valve.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

“A messenger arrived this afternoon. Mrs. Tilbury is simply beside herself. It’s been reported that Colin’s brother was shot down over the Channel. He hasn’t been found.”

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that allow nerve cells to communicate, and dopamine helps regulate functions that include mood, motivation, and thinking.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026

The White House has also lost one of its most powerful messengers, after formidable Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped down, saying she wanted to devote more time to her children.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

His lab identified it years ago as one of the thousands of peptides that act as chemical messengers in the human body, one he believed might someday have therapeutic uses for humans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Humans domesticated the birds and used them as messengers and as food for thousands of years.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Both messengers, crewman and swineherd—reached the outer gate in the same instant, bearing the same news, m and went in side by side to the king’s hall.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Related Words

• courier
• emissary
• go-between
• mediator
• prophet