mission

See also: Mission

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin missiō, missiōnem (“a sending, sending away, dispatching, discharging, release, remission, cessation”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪʃn̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪʃən/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /miʃin/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃən
• Hyphenation: mis‧sion

Noun

mission (countable and uncountable, plural missions)

1. (countable) A set of tasks that fulfills a purpose or duty; an assignment set by an employer, or by oneself.
2. (uncountable) Religious evangelism.
3. (in the plural, "the missions") Third World charities, particularly those which preach as well as provide aid.
4. (countable, Catholicism) An infrequent gathering of religious believers in a parish, usually part of a larger regional event with a central theme.
5. A number of people appointed to perform any service; a delegation; an embassy.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, pages 18–19:

     [I]n either of theſe Ships, there ſhould be a Miſsion of three of the Fellowes, or Brethren of Salomons Houſe; [...]

6. (obsolete) Dismissal; discharge from service
7. A settlement or building serving as a base for missionary work.

   Many cities across the Americas grew from Spanish missions.

8. (Australia, becoming obsolete) An settlement predominantly inhabited by Indigenous Australians living in housing commission.
9. (slang, drugs) A drug run.

Derived terms

• chef de mission
• diplomatic mission
• fire mission
• inner mission
• intermission
• intromission
• mission accomplished
• mission creep
• mission-critical
• Mission golden-eyed treefrog
• mission home
• mission impossible
• Mission Indian
• mission kill
• mission mix
• mission mixture
• Mission olive
• Mission Ridge
• mission school
• mission statement
• mission station
• mission stiff
• on a mission
• permanent mission
• permission
• remission
• rescue mission
• side mission
• space mission
• suicide mission
• transmission

Related terms

• mess
• message
• messenger
• missile
• missionary
• missive

• admissible
• admission
• admit
• commission
• commit
• demiss
• demission
• demit
• emission
• emit
• intermission
• intermit
• manumission
• manumit
• omit
• permit
• premise
• pretermit
• promise
• remit
• submit
• surmise
• transmit

Translations

set of tasks that fulfills a purpose

• Arabic: مُهِمَّة f (muhimma)
• Armenian: առաքելություն (hy) (aṙakʻelutʻyun)
• Belarusian: мі́сія f (mísija), даручэ́нне n (daručénnje), зада́нне n (zadánnje), зада́ча (be) f (zadáča)
• Bulgarian: ми́сия (bg) f (mísija), зада́ча (bg) f (zadáča)
• Catalan: missió (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 任務 / 任务 (zh) (rènwu), 使命 (zh) (shǐmìng)

• Czech: poslání n, mise (cs) f
• Danish: mission c, opgave c
• Dutch: missie (nl) f, opdracht (nl) f
• Egyptian: (wpwt)
• Esperanto: misio
• Estonian: ülesanne (et)
• Finnish: tehtävä (fi)
• French: mission (fr) f
• Georgian: დავალება (davaleba)
• German: Auftrag (de) m
• Greek: αποστολή (el) f (apostolí)

  Ancient: πέμψις f (pémpsis), ἀποστολή f (apostolḗ)

• Hebrew: מְשִׂימָה (he) f (mesimá)
• Hungarian: küldetés (hu)
• Icelandic: hlutverk n
• Ido: misiono (io)
• Indonesian: tugas (id), misi (id)
• Italian: missione (it) f
• Japanese: 任務 (ja) (にんむ, ninmu), 使命 (ja) (しめい, shimei)
• Korean: 임무(任務) (ko) (immu), 사명(使命) (ko) (samyeong)
• Latin: missio f, expedītiō f
• Latvian: uzdevums m
• Lithuanian: užduotis f
• Macedonian: мисија (mk) f (misija), задача f (zadača)
• Malay: misi (ms), hala tuju
• Malayalam: ദൗത്യം (ml) (dautyaṁ)
• Maori: mīhana, whakatakanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppdrag n

• Persian: مأموریت (fa) (ma'muriyat)
• Polish: misja (pl) f, zadanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: missão (pt) f
• Romanian: misiune (ro) f, însărcinare (ro) f
• Russian: ми́ссия (ru) f (míssija), поруче́ние (ru) n (poručénije), зада́ние (ru) n (zadánije), зада́ча (ru) f (zadáča)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мѝсија f

  Roman: mìsija (sh) f

• Slovak: misia f, poslanie n
• Slovene: naloga f
• Spanish: misión (es) f
• Swedish: uppdrag (sv) n
• Tagalog: misyon
• Thai: ภารกิจ (th) (paa-rá-gìt)
• Turkish: görev (tr)
• Ukrainian: мі́сія (uk) f (mísija), дору́чення n (dorúčennja), припору́ка f (pryporúka), завда́ння (uk) n (zavdánnja), зада́ча f (zadáča)
• Vietnamese: nhiệm vụ (vi) (任務)
• Welsh: cyrch m

religious evangelism

• Belarusian: мі́сія f (mísija)
• Bulgarian: ми́сия (bg) f (mísija)
• Catalan: missió (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傳教活動 / 传教活动 (chuánjiào huódòng)

• Czech: misie (cs) f
• Danish: mission c
• Dutch: missie (nl) f, zending (nl) f
• Faroese: kristniboð, trúboð
• Finnish: missio (fi), lähetys (fi), lähetystyö (fi)
• French: mission (fr) f
• Georgian: მისია (misia)
• German: Mission (de) f
• Hebrew: מִיסְיוֹן m (misión)
• Hungarian: misszió (hu)
• Icelandic: kristniboð (is) n, trúboð n
• Ido: misiono (io)
• Japanese: 弘道 (こうどう, kōdō), 布教 (ja) (ふきょう, fukyō), 伝道 (ja) (でんどう, dendō), 宣教 (ja) (せんきょう, senkyō)
• Korean: 홍도(弘道) (ko) (hongdo), 포교(布敎) (ko) (pogyo), 전도(傳道) (ko) (jeondo), 선교(宣敎) (ko) (seon'gyo)
• Latin: missio f, expeditio
• Maori: mīhana
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: misjon m

• Polish: misja (pl) f
• Portuguese: missão (pt) f
• Romanian: misiune (ro) f
• Russian: ми́ссия (ru) f (míssija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мѝсија f

  Roman: mìsija (sh) f

• Slovene: misijon m
• Spanish: misión (es) f
• Swahili: misheni (sw)
• Swedish: mission (sv) c
• Ukrainian: мі́сія (uk) f (mísija)
• Welsh: cenhadaeth f

Verb

mission (third-person singular simple present missions, present participle missioning, simple past and past participle missioned)

1. (transitive) To send on a mission.
2. (intransitive) To do missionary work, proselytize.

Further reading

• “mission”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “mission”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “mission”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Ionisms

Finnish

Noun

mission

1. genitive singular of missio

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French mission, borrowed from Latin missiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mi.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mission f (plural missions)

1. mission (duty that involves fulfilling a request)
2. mission (religious evangelism)

Derived terms

• mission spatiale
• missionnaire
• missionner

Related terms

• admission
• démission
• permission
• rémission
• mettre

Descendants

• → Romanian: misiune
• → Turkish: misyon

Further reading

• “mission”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• misions

Norman

Etymology

From Old French mission, borrowed from Latin missiō, missiōnem.

Noun

mission f (plural missions)

1. (Jersey) mission

Old French

Alternative forms

• mession
• micion
• mision

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin missiō, missiōnem.

Noun

mission oblique singular, f (oblique plural missions, nominative singular mission, nominative plural missions)

1. expense; cost; outlay

Descendants

• French: mission
• Norman: mission

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪˈɧuːn/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mission c

1. (countable) a mission; a purpose or duty, a task set by an employer
2. (uncountable) mission; religious evangelism

   inre mission ― domestic mission (evangelizing within the home country)

Declension

Declension of mission

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	mission	missions
	definite	missionen	missionens
plural	indefinite	missioner	missioners
	definite	missionerna	missionernas

Related terms

• missionär
• missionsfält
• missionsförbund