
get the message
Meaning: To understand something that is only hinted at, perhaps because it is unpleasant.
Example: “When she didn't answer his calls for a week, he finally got the message.”
Origin: "Message" traces through Old French to Vulgar Latin missaticum, itself from Latin mittere, to send — at its root, always something dispatched from one person to another to be understood. The specific idiom "get the message," meaning to grasp what someone is implying without it being spelled out directly, is dated to around 1960. The figurative sense extends the literal one in an obvious direction: just as a sent message accomplishes nothing until its recipient actually reads and understands it, an indirect hint or unspoken signal only "lands" once the other person has genuinely picked up on what was being communicated.
More English idioms
- give someone the sack To be fired from one's job.
- give someone the third degree To be questioned in great detail.
- get something down pat To do something repeatedly until one knows how to do it without a mistake; to perfect an…
- the gift of gab The ability to speak easily and well.
- give in To surrender.
- give someone a hard time To be difficult with someone; to give someone unnecessary difficulty.
Explore another collection: Untranslatable Words
Words that capture a feeling or idea English needs a whole sentence for.
- Sobremesa The unhurried conversation that lingers long after a meal, when no one wants to leave the…
- Gigil The overwhelming urge to squeeze or pinch something unbearably cute.
- Iktsuarpok The restless anticipation that makes you keep stepping outside to see if someone is final…
Keep exploring