diff --git a/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs b/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs
index 11aa56db..9ce42969 100644
--- a/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs
+++ b/nac3artiq/src/lib.rs
@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ impl Nac3 {
                 .register_top_level(stmt.clone(), Some(resolver.clone()), path.clone())
                 .map_err(|e| {
                     CompileError::new_err(format!(
-                        "nac3 compilation failure\n----------\n{}",
+                        "compilation failed\n----------\n{}",
                         e
                     ))
                 })?;
@@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ impl Nac3 {
             // report error of __modinit__ separately
             if !e.contains("__nac3_synthesized_modinit__") {
                 return Err(CompileError::new_err(format!(
-                    "nac3 compilation failure: \n----------\n{}",
+                    "compilation failed\n----------\n{}",
                     e
                 )));
             } else {
diff --git a/nac3artiq/src/symbol_resolver.rs b/nac3artiq/src/symbol_resolver.rs
index ad324139..baf122c7 100644
--- a/nac3artiq/src/symbol_resolver.rs
+++ b/nac3artiq/src/symbol_resolver.rs
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ impl InnerResolver {
                 pyo3::types::PyModule::import(py, "builtins").unwrap().getattr("repr").unwrap();
             let str_repr: String = str_fn.call1((pyty,)).unwrap().extract().unwrap();
             Ok(Err(format!(
-                "{} is not supported in nac3 (did you forgot to put @nac3 annotation?)",
+                "{} is not registered with NAC3 (@nac3 decorator missing?)",
                 str_repr
             )))
         }
@@ -931,7 +931,7 @@ impl SymbolResolver for Resolver {
             let py_id =
                 self.0.name_to_pyid.get(&id).ok_or(format!("Undefined identifier `{}`", id))?;
             let result = self.0.pyid_to_def.read().get(py_id).copied().ok_or(format!(
-                "`{}` is not registered in nac3, did you forgot to add @nac3?",
+                "`{}` is not registered with NAC3 (@nac3 decorator missing?)",
                 id
             ))?;
             self.0.id_to_def.write().insert(id, result);