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Synonyms

messenger

American  
[mes-uhn-jer] / ˈmɛs ən dʒər /

noun

  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.

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

"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

Etymology

Origin of messenger

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s top diplomat, became the chief messenger for a defiant regime after strikes decimated its leadership.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

That has not stopped Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowing to infiltrate the messenger.

From Barron's • Mar. 23, 2026

A new study focused on nitric oxide, a common chemical messenger in the brain.

From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026

The megapopular digital messenger Discord is inspiring a lot of, well, discord this week.

From Slate • Feb. 11, 2026

A native of Washington, DC, Hoover had started out as a messenger boy at the Library of Congress.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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