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emissary

UK/ˈɛmɪs(ə)ɹi/US/ˈɛmɪˌsɛɹi/
nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,304 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: emissaries

An emissary is somebody sent with a message or a mission. A special emissary, send an emissary, the king's emissary.

It is grander than a messenger and less formal than an ambassador, and it suggests a delicate errand — an emissary is sent when something must be said unofficially. The Latin behind it also meant a spy, which the word has never quite shaken off.

Definitions of emissary

  1. 1nounemissarySomebody sent with a message or a mission.C1

    “The king sent an emissary to the enemy camp to discuss peace.”

emissary is a messenger.

Where it comes from

Latin emissarius means one sent out, from emittere — e, out, plus mittere, to send.

  1. Latin

    emissarius — agent, scout, spy

  2. French

    émissaire

  3. English, today

    emissary

From French émissaire, from Latin emissarius (“agent, scout, spy”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

emissary in the wild

  • There are several types of emissary veins including the posterior condyloid, mastoid, occipital and parietal emissary veins.

    Emissary veins

  • The term, in contemporary usage, has come to refer more generally to a representative or emissary.

    Shaliah

  • The occipital emissary vein is a small emissary vein which passes through the condylar canal.

    Occipital emissary vein

  • Chabad houses are run by a Chabad married couple; shaliach (emissary) and shalucha (fem. for "emissary").

    Chabad house

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.