bearer of bad news

To be the Bearer of Bad News(Meaning and Usage)

To be the “bearer of bad news” means to be the person who delivers the bad news.

It is most commonly delivered with “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but ……”

Examples

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no ice cream left.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you will not be working here anymore.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you didn’t get into the university you wanted.

What does “the bearer” mean?

“The bearer” in this case means the person who holds something. The verb “to bear” means to hold or support something and also to endure something.

You can see that being the person to deliver some bad news is something difficult and for that reason, we use the verb “to bear”

“The Bearer” is simple the noun(in this case the person) of the verb to “bear”.

Don’t shoot the messenger!

We often use “the bearer of bad news” before we deliver the bad news and “don’t shoot the messenger” after we deliver the bad news.

“Don’t shoot the messenger” has a slightly different meaning in that it means, don’t blame the person who delivered the bad news as it is usually not their fault.

“The bearer of bad news” is simply just the person who delivers the bad news.

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