missive
Americannoun
adjective
noun
-
a formal or official letter
-
a formal word for letter
adjective
Etymology
Origin of missive
1400–50; late Middle English ( letter ) missive < Medieval Latin ( littera ) missīva sent (letter), equivalent to Latin miss ( us ) (past participle of mittere to send) + -īva, feminine of -īvus -ive
Explanation
A missive usually refers to the old-school style of hand-written communication on paper (remember that?), but these days you also might hear an email called a missive. No matter how you deliver it, a missive is a message. The noun missive comes from the Latin word missus, meaning "to send." You may have heard the phrase, "fire off a missive," meaning a note, memo or dispatch that was written and sent with urgency and conveyed an important message. It might have been a missive sent from a commander to the troops, telling them of a change in the battle plan. Or, maybe it was an urgent love letter to the commander's wife back home, telling her to tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree...
Vocabulary lists containing missive
Send a Message: Mit and Miss
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Born a Crime
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"Simon's Saga," Vocabulary from Episode 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, another missive from the judge's chambers quickly overshadowed the hotel snafu that same afternoon: the jury had reached their verdicts.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Wilson’s biting missive, published in the London Review of Books this week, went so viral that it reportedly crashed the outlet’s website for a few hours Monday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
On Monday, the 77-year-old took to social-media platform X for the first time to amplify his uncharacteristic missive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
A missive from the administration in February 2025 directed government agencies to review all funding to nongovernmental organizations.
From Barron's ● May 12, 2026
I trust this missive finds you in good health.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
