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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

From the moment James Hurley arrived as president of Tarleton State University in 2019, he made it his mission to spread the word about what he considered the best-kept secret in America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

“While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

The optimistic 68-year-old told supporters gathered for his campaign party in West Sacramento that his mission is to “deliver a California we can afford and defend a California we can’t afford to lose.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

Asked about how Williams appeared, Crean said: "100% he was fine, he looked normal, he was just on a mission, he didn't seem angry."

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

She had all the pieces together, scripts, a title, a mission statement, to bring Second Avenue’s Yiddish theater history back to life.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Mission Viejo coach Chad Johnson said before kickoff that the game would be decided by explosive plays, and he wanted to limit the opponent’s electric moments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

A State Department spokesman said Wednesday, “We have made clear to the Cuba Mission that this individual is not welcome in the United States, and as a result this individual has left.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

The funding, announced in the Budget earlier, will come from the government's Growth Mission Fund but is subject to final business case approval.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

The Growth Mission Fund was set up to invest £240m between 2026-27 and 2029-30 in schemes designed to boost job creation and the economic regeneration of local communities.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

I find the Mission book and start to leave but look back at the room.

From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine

In 1986, he returned to the United States, where he took charge of vocations and missions for the Augustinians.

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026

Nežič's asteroid was discovered by "one of the big missions", he said.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026

On the USS George Washington, teams work around the clock to position aircraft for missions, shuttling them between the flight deck and the hangar bay using four giant elevators that move multiple planes at once.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

It announced in January it was pausing flights to focus on it other business, including development of its larger New Glenn rocket for satellite and other missions, as well as a lunar lander.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

In their three years on the front lines, the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment flew more than twenty-four thousand combat missions in total.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

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