mission

See also: Mission

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪʃ(ə)n/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /mɪʃᵻn/
  • Homophone: machine (dialectal, weak vowel merger)
• 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. A important goal or purpose; an objective.
   • 2008 October 16, Martina Cole, The Business: A compelling suspense thriller of danger and destruction, Headline, →ISBN:

     [She] made it her mission in life to make sure that no one around them would ever know the real truth. But this daughter of hers, she was a loose cannon, she was not someone to be trusted. […]

   • 2013 September 30, Ratanjit, How Oneness Changes Everything: Empowering Business Through 9 Universal Laws, BalboaPress, →ISBN, page 213:

     The first page [of her CV] was a statement of her mission and role in life, which was to add the highest value in everything she undertook. On page two, we listed her primary governing values and operating principles. The third page listed her objectives […]

3. (countable) A missionary expedition.
4. (in the plural, "the missions") Third World charities, particularly those which preach as well as provide aid.
5. (countable, Catholicism) An infrequent gathering of religious believers in a parish, usually part of a larger regional event with a central theme.
6. 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; [...]

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

   Many cities across the Americas grew from Spanish missions.

9. (Australia, becoming obsolete) An settlement predominantly inhabited by Indigenous Australians living in housing commission.
10. (slang, drugs) A drug run.
11. (colloquial) An ordeal; an difficult, trying task.
    • 2025 July 30, Ben Ebbrell, Sorted Food, Can Antique Gadgets Handle Modern Cooking?‎^[1], 18:23:

      I was thinking like meat, [you could use this wooden device to] tenderize a steak ... but not into a wooden box, 'cause it's gonna be a mission to clean.

Derived terms

• antimission
• chef de mission
• countermission
• diplomatic mission
• fire mission
• inner mission
• intermission
• intromission
• mission accomplished
• missional
• mission creep
• mission-critical
• missionee
• Mission golden-eyed treefrog
• mission home
• mission impossible
• Mission Indian
• missionise
• missionization
• missionize
• mission kill
• missionless
• mission manzanita
• mission mix
• mission mixture
• Mission olive
• Mission Ridge
• mission school
• mission statement
• mission station
• mission stiff
• multimission
• on a mission
• permanent mission
• permission
• remission
• rescue mission
• side mission
• space mission
• submission
• 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), مَأْمُورِيَّة f (maʔmūriyya)
• 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 Greek: 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)
• Māori: mīhana, whakatakanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppdrag n

• Pannonian Rusyn: мисия f (misija)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: مَأْمورِیَّت (ma'muriyyat)

• 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

  Latin: mìsija (sh) f

• Slovak: misia f, poslanie n
• Slovene: naloga f
• Spanish: misión (es) f
• Swedish: uppdrag (sv) n
• Tagalog: misyon
• Tajik: супориш (suporiš)
• 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)
• Urdu: کار m (kār)
• 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 (ja) (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
• Māori: 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

  Latin: 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 (2001–2026), “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)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (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