on-message

[ on-mes-ij, awn‐ ]

adjective

1. focused on the central theme or official message of a political, business, or other organization:

   The candidate's promises are on-message and echo the party platform. Your company’s ads should be entertaining and on-message.

on message

adjective

1. on-message when prenominal adhering to or reflecting the official line of a political party, government, or other organization

Word History and Origins

Origin of on-message¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; on ( def ) + message ( def )

Example Sentences

About a dozen Donald Trump campaign aides spoke to Tim Alberta, a staff writer at The Atlantic, about how their candidate strayed from a hitherto on-message campaign to embark on a series of offensive, threatening and self-defeating verbal adventures that have left his team utterly demoralized heading into Election Day.

From Salon

His answers were smooth, and relentlessly on-message, constantly reminding the audience that for all of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s promises, Democrats have held the White House for the past three and a half years.

From BBC

After so much exposure to the Western world, the athletes will probably undergo a gruelling “debrief” after returning home to ensure they stay on-message, said Lee, who is also the co-host of the BBC World Service’s Lazarus Heist podcast.

From BBC

For four slickly produced and relentlessly on-message evenings, the Republican party positioned itself as a welcoming place for all Americans and the former president as a uniting force who would return the nation to greatness.

From BBC

A backbencher congressman in only his second term, Mr. Donalds, 45, has fast become a prominent surrogate for Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and a conservative media regular, serving up earnest and on-message defenses of the former president.

From New York Times