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• mission
  mission

  noun

  a group or committee of persons sent to a foreign country to conduct negotiations, establish relations, provide scientific and technical assistance, or the like.
• Mission
  Mission

  noun

  a city in S Texas.

mission

¹ American  

[mish-uhn] / ˈmɪʃ ən /

noun

• missions
  plural

1. 

   a group or committee of persons sent to a foreign country to conduct negotiations, establish relations, provide scientific and technical assistance, or the like.

2. the business with which such a group is charged.

3. any important task or duty that is assigned, allotted, or self-imposed.

   Our mission is to find the child a safe home.

4. an important goal or purpose that is accompanied by strong conviction; a calling or vocation.

   She has finally found her mission in life.

5. a sending or being sent for some duty or purpose.

6. those sent.

7. Also called foreign mission. a permanent diplomatic establishment abroad; embassy; legation.

8. Military. an operational task, usually assigned by a higher headquarters.

   a mission to bomb the bridge.

9. Aerospace. an operation designed to carry out the goals of a specific program.

   a space mission.

10. Also called foreign mission. a group of persons sent by a church to carry on religious work, especially evangelization in foreign lands, and often to establish schools, hospitals, etc.

11. an establishment of missionaries in a foreign land; a missionary church or station.

12. a similar establishment in any region.

13. the district assigned to a missionary.

14. missionary duty or work.

15. an organization for carrying on missionary work.

16. Also called rescue mission. a shelter operated by a church or other organization offering food, lodging, and other assistance to needy persons.

17. missions, organized missionary work or activities in any country or region.

18. a church or a region dependent on a larger church or denomination.

19. a series of special religious services for increasing religious devotion and converting unbelievers.

    to preach a mission.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a mission.

2. (usually initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to a style of American furniture of the early 20th century, created in supposed imitation of the furnishings of the Spanish missions of California and characterized by the use of dark, stained wood, by heaviness, and by extreme plainness.

Mission ² American  

[mish-uhn] / ˈmɪʃ ən /

noun

1. a city in S Texas.

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mission British  

/ ˈmɪʃən /

noun

1. a specific task or duty assigned to a person or group of people

   their mission was to irrigate the desert

2. a person's vocation (often in the phrase mission in life )

3. a group of persons representing or working for a particular country, business, etc, in a foreign country

4. 1. a special embassy sent to a foreign country for a specific purpose

   2. a permanent legation

5. 1. a group of people sent by a religious body, esp a Christian church, to a foreign country to do religious and social work

   2. the campaign undertaken by such a group

6. 1. the work or calling of a missionary

   2. a building or group of buildings in which missionary work is performed

   3. the area assigned to a particular missionary

7. the dispatch of aircraft or spacecraft to achieve a particular task

8. a church or chapel that has no incumbent of its own

9. a charitable centre that offers shelter, aid, or advice to the destitute or underprivileged

10. (modifier) of or relating to an ecclesiastical mission

    a mission station

11. a long and difficult process

12. (modifier) (of furniture) in the style of the early Spanish missions of the southwestern US

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verb

1. (tr) to direct a mission to or establish a mission in (a given region)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• missional
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• missions
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mission

First recorded in 1590–1600; 1925–30 mission for def. 8; from Latin missiōn-, stem of missiō “dismissal,” literally, “a sending,” equivalent to miss(us) (past participle of mittere “to send”) + -iō -ion

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Explanation

A mission is a special quest, one that involves more effort than, say, a trip to the corner store. If you were to drive all around the state searching garage sales for porcelain cats, you could say you were on a mission. Mission comes from a Latin word that means “to send.” It was first used by Jesuit missionaries who sent members of their order overseas to establish schools and churches. Foreign travel is still associated with the word. When diplomats and humanitarian workers travel abroad, we often refer to those trips as missions.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mission Mission missions

Rather than a mission that might help people, it becomes about him.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

Mr. Sullivan’s mission is to remind Alaska—a state almost wholly at the mercy of federal policy—that things could be worse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

He emphasised human-led creativity would always be at the heart of the BBC's mission.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

The US embassy's deputy chief of mission Josh Huck, a career diplomat, is expected to take charge in the interim, Greek reports said Wednesday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

The air is hot and humid, buzzing with mosquitoes, as Joey Guerrero sets off on her mission to deliver the map.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

The size of Cruise's star in the movie firmament makes the comparison even less flattering: "Digger" was never going to be in the same ballpark as the multi-billion dollar "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

That playbook could translate readily to Paramount and Warner, which together control a deep bench of franchises including Batman, Superman, Harry Potter, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Transformers and SpongeBob SquarePants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

But the archdeacon told the court he had noticed Brain - who was ordained in the cassock worn by Robert de Niro in the 1986 film The Mission - becoming "something of a messianic" figure.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Ride a thrilling, creature-heavy makeover of Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout! in Disney California Adventure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

We go downtown and volunteer at the Portland Rescue Mission.

From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson

Neutron is crucial for Rocket Lab to expand its launch business and carry out more missions for both commercial and government customers, as well as itself.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

But a sudden speed restriction for drones connected to Starlink means some of battlefield "missions" have been disrupted, according to a top Ukrainian official.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

He said this restriction "led to the disruption of a number of missions" and deprived Ukraine of its ability to fight Russian jet-powered drones.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

“These days our terrorist and state threats operational missions are pretty much of equal scale: that in itself is a huge shift across recent years,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Valentina flew more than 1,850 of these missions, and evacuated around 2,500 orphaned children and wounded partisan fighters.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

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