message

play

noun mes·sage \ ˈme-sij \

Definition of message

1 :a communication in writing, in speech, or by signals

Please take this message for me to my friend.

2 :a messenger's mission

the girl will go on a message to the shop
—Cahir Healy

3 :an underlying theme or idea

the message is that it is time to change
—The Economist

See message defined for English-language learners

See message defined for kids

Examples of message in a Sentence

Did you get my message?
She has received messages of support from hundreds of people.
I left a message on her answering machine.
He's not here right now. Can I take a message?
I liked the story but I didn't really agree with the book's message.
He believed in the church's message of forgiveness.

Recent Examples of message from the Web

The evaluators noted the event may even have sent the wrong message: That the students on summer break were a problem, and the police planned to deal with them.

— jsonline.com, "Trust damaged between Milwaukee police and community, Department of Justice draft report says," 30 Aug. 2017
Touched by the outpouring of support, Bryant took to Twitter to extend her own message of gratitude to the Black Girls Code community.

— maggie mallon, Glamour, "Black Girls Code Turned Down $125,000 From Uber—Then Crowd-Funded Even More," 28 Aug. 2017
The message from campus officials stated the student reported the assault around 3 a.m. Wednesday.

— charlotteobserver, "Campus police investigating reported sexual assault on App State campus," 24 Aug. 2017
In this July 10,, 2012 file photo, a pedestrians text messages while crossing the street in downtown Washington.

— isabel gottlieb, courant.com, "Texting And Walking Cluelessly? That Could Soon Be A Fine In Stamford," 24 Aug. 2017
The courts have a role in issuing a stern message that lengthy prison terms await serial drug dealers; state legislators have an obligation to assess appropriate penalties.

— Howard County Times, "Stronger actions to battle heroin [Editorial]," 23 Aug. 2017
Maybe a nice message, one filled with wisdom and hunanity would get more traction.

— caroline hallemann, Town & Country, "Louise Linton Speaks Out About Her Controversial Instagram Post," 22 Aug. 2017
As a two-way player, Miller, now up to to 6-foot-3 and 290 pounds, enters 2019 as a Mr. Football candidate. TRUE HONOR Miller receives regular text messages from a defensive tackle at a Texas high school.

— gary estwick, AL.com, "A-List No. 3: Coynis Miller wants to help offers mimic his success," 22 Aug. 2017
A spokesman for Greitens didn’t immediately reply to a message seeking comment.

— jim salter, The Seattle Times, "Attorneys for condemned Missouri man seek halt to execution," 21 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'message.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of message

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin missaticum, from Latin missus, past participle of mittere

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

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message Synonyms

Synonyms

dispatch, communication

Related Words

bulletin, communiqué, express [British], report; memo, memorandum, notice; epistle, letter, missive, note; electronic mail, e-mail, voice mail; intelligence, news, tidings, word; command, directive, instruction, order

message

verb

Definition of message

messaged; messaging

transitive verb

1 :to send as a message or by messenger

2 :to send a message to

intransitive verb

:to communicate by message

Recent Examples of message from the Web

A group of Gulf Coast men who messaged Mark the Shark Quartiano video of a shark being dragged behind a boat also sent this image, allegedly showing its mangled body afterwards.

— jenny staletovich, miamiherald, "Florida ‘Jackass’ anglers troll social media and the law struggles to catch them," 17 Aug. 2017
Yet the social network was banned in China in 2009, followed by its photo-sharing app Instagram in 2014, and its messaging app WhatsApp was partially blocked last month.

— paul mozur, The Seattle Times, "In China, Facebook tests the waters with a stealth app," 11 Aug. 2017
While scrolling through the site a few days later, a man, John,* messaged me out of the blue.

— kayla keegan, Good Housekeeping, "I'm a 51-Year-Old Cougar Baby and I Fell for My Sugar Daddy," 29 July 2017
Word has it that Amazon is gearing up to launch a standalone messaging app.

— angela moscaritolo, Fox News, "Amazon working on 'Anytime' messaging app, reports say," 18 July 2017
MoveOn.org has been emailing and direct messaging them, encouraging them to get involved in the Ossoff campaign.

— lateshia beachum, NBC News, "Out-of-State Interests Spent $26.2 Million on Georgia Special Election," 20 June 2017
Many are resorting to messaging apps that technically are a no-no on Wall Street.

— chris dolmetsch, Bloomberg.com, "When Can Traders Lie? Nomura Case's Mixed Verdict: QuickTake Q&A," 15 June 2017
In light of the terrorist attacks in Europe and the U.S., there has been a lot of debate about whether messaging companies like yourselves should give away data of their users to government agencies.

— WSJ, "What Tomorrow’s Messaging Apps Will Look Like," 13 June 2017
The text messages a Massachusetts woman sent to the mother of her boyfriend after his death were warm and comforting.

— kalhan rosenblatt, NBC News, "Teen Accused of Coercing Boyfriend to Kill Himself Sent Texts to Grieving Mother," 6 June 2017

Origin and Etymology of message

see ¹message

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1582

See Words from the same year

MESSAGE Defined for English Language Learners

message

play

noun

Definition of message for English Language Learners

: a piece of information that is sent or given to someone
: an important idea that someone is trying to express in a book, movie, speech, etc.

MESSAGE Defined for Kids

message

play

noun mes·sage \ ˈme-sij \

Definition of message for Students

1 :the exchange of information in writing, in speech, or by signals

2 :an underlying theme or idea

the book's message

Learn More about message

See words that rhyme with message Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for message Spanish Central: Translation of message Nglish: Translation of message for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of message for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about message

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Examples of message in a Sentence

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Synonyms

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message

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MESSAGE Defined for English Language Learners

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Definition of message for English Language Learners

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