Dictionary

missive en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɪsɪv/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin missīvus, from mittō (“to send”).

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent.
   • Delivery of the Letters Missive 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC:
   • a letter missive
2. (not-comparable, obsolete) Serving as a missile; intended to be thrown.
   • In vain with Darts a diſtant War they try, / Short, and more ſhort the miſſive weapons fly. 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 564:

Deriveds

letter missive

Relateds

mission for terms etymologically related to send

Translations (1)

es misivo (Translations)

missive en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɪsɪv/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin missīvus, from mittō (“to send”).

Meanings

1. (formal) A written message; a letter, note or memo.
   • The juvenile missives from his unmistakably phallic Twitter avatar came days after one of his rockets launched NASA’s first antiasteroid planetary-defense test[…] December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine, archived from the original on 13 Dec 2021:
   • [Y]ou / Did pocket vp my Letters: and with taunts / Did gibe my Miſive out of audience. c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 346, column 1:
   • The Madonna letters, which are interspersed with more personal missives in this curious epistolary memoir, accumulate into a rap about the downsides of celebrity - the problems of ageing, of invaded privacy, of becoming vain and impetuously adopting children from other continents. 25 October 2008, Claire Armistead, The Guardian:
   • "Curses throttle thee!" yelled Ahab. "Captain Mayhew, stand by now to receive it"; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck's hands, he caught it in the slit of the pole, and reached it over towards the boat. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 71, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
2. (in-plural, qualifier:Scots law) Letters sent between two parties in which one makes an offer and the other accepts it.
3. (obsolete) One who is sent; a messenger.
   • Whiles I stood rapt in the wonder of it came missives from the King, who all hailed me ‘Thane of Cawdor,’ by which title these Weird Sisters saluted me and referred me to the coming on of time with ‘Hail king that shalt be.’ c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

Forms

Translations (26)

ru письмо (a written message) · pl list (a written message) · el σημείωμα (a written message) · pt missiva (a written message) · de Schrieb (a written message) · la epistola (a written message) · pl posłanie (a written message) · cs psaní (a written message) · is langt og virðulegt bréf (a written message) · de Schreiben (a written message) · la litterae (a written message) · ca missiva (a written message) · ru посла́ние (a written message) · it missiva (a written message) · cs list (a written message) · de Sendschreiben (a written message) · cs dopis (a written message) · bg послание (a written message) · pl pismo (a written message) · es misiva (a written message) · el επιστολή (a written message) · uk посла́ння (a written message) · kmr peyam (a written message) · is langur og virðulegur pistill (a written message) · fr missive (a written message) · kmr daxuyanî (a written message)