Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
missive. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
missive, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
missive in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
missive you have here. The definition of the word
missive will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
missive, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
15th century; from Medieval Latin missīvus, from mittō (“to send”).
Pronunciation
Noun
missive (plural missives)
- (formal) A written message; a letter, note or memo.
c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 346, column 1:[Y]ou / Did pocket vp my Letters: and with taunts / Did gibe my Miſive out of audience.
December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine:The juvenile missives from his unmistakably phallic Twitter avatar came days after one of his rockets launched NASA’s first antiasteroid planetary-defense test […]
25 October 2008, Claire Armistead, The Guardian: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.
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:"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.
- (in the plural, Scots law) Letters sent between two parties in which one makes an offer and the other accepts it.
- (obsolete) One who is sent; a messenger.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):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.’
Translations
Adjective
missive (not comparable)
- Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent.
- a letter 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:Delivery of the Letters Missive
- (obsolete) Serving as a missile; intended to be thrown.
1700, [John] Dryden, “Cymon and Iphigenia, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 564:In vain with Darts a diſtant War they try, / Short, and more ſhort the miſſive weapons fly.
Derived terms
Related terms
- See mission for terms etymologically related to send
References
French
Pronunciation
Noun
missive f (plural missives)
- missive
Further reading
Italian
Noun
missive f
- plural of missiva