Other forms: missions
A mission is an important task somebody is sent to do. A rescue mission, on a mission, mission statement.
Being sent is the core of it — the Latin means a sending — which is why the word covers military operations, space flights and religious work alike. A mission statement says what an organisation is for, and most say nothing. On a mission means single-minded. Note missionary, missile, dismiss, all from the same sending.
1nounmissionAn important task somebody is sent to do.
“The astronauts' mission was to repair the telescope and return safely to Earth.”
2nounpurposeThe purpose of an organisation.
“The charity's mission is to give every child a good education.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
mission is an assigned task.
Latin missio means a sending, from mittere, to send. Missile, dismiss and message come from the same sending.
Proto-Indo-European
*mey- (change)
Latin
missiō
English, today
mission
Learned borrowing from Latin missiō. Latin missiō (“a sending, sending away, dispatching, discharging, release, remission, cessation”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA