get the message

idiom

informal

: to understand something that is not being said directly

When they didn't return my phone calls, I finally got the message.

He gave her an angry look, hoping she'd get the message.

Examples of get the message in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Back then, some people failed to get the message and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1. —USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024

The state has to get the message out that cannabis legalization is not just about a cash grab by the government, but about addressing some of the harms of the war on drugs through tax revenues, which unlicensed shops are not paying. —Terence McGinley, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024

Anderson said the Fed seemed to get the message in 2023 and has been much more disciplined. —Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, 6 Mar. 2024

Given the scale of critical services in the US, that's a good way to get the message out. —Garrett M. Graff, WIRED, 21 Feb. 2024

But so, too, is saving the environment, and a Herculean effort is one way to get the message across. —Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2024

The Soviets and the Chinese were expected to get the message, even if the American people were kept in the dark. —Timothy Naftali, Foreign Affairs, 1 Dec. 2023

In a compact Northeast corridor with many other transportation options, local officials may well get the message on private jets–and that could set the stage for successful fights elsewhere. —Chuck Collins, Fortune, 14 Nov. 2023

Bear in mind that my second career was in mediation and being trained to watch and listen and get the message from facial expression and body language. —Jessica Radloff, Glamour, 3 Nov. 2023