different between communication vs missive

English

Etymology

From Middle English communicacion, from Old French communicacion, from Latin comm?nic?ti?nem, accusative singular of comm?nic?ti? (“imparting, communicating”), from comm?nic? (“I share, I impart”).Morphologically communicate +? -ion

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??mju?n??ke???n/
• Hyphenation: com?mu?ni?ca?tion
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

communication (countable and uncountable, plural communications)

1. The act or fact of communicating anything; transmission.

   communication of smallpox

   communication of a secret

2. (uncountable) The concept or state of exchanging data or information between entities.

   Some say that communication is a necessary prerequisite for sentience; others say that it is a result thereof.

   The node had established communication with the network, but had as yet sent no data.

3. A message; the essential data transferred in an act of communication.

   Surveillance was accomplished by means of intercepting the spies' communications.

4. The body of all data transferred to one or both parties during an act of communication.

   The subpoena required that the company document their communication with the plaintiff.

5. An instance of information transfer; a conversation or discourse.

   The professors' communications consisted of lively discussions via email.
6. A passageway or opening between two locations; connection.

   A round archway at the far end of the hallway provided communication to the main chamber.

   • 1727, John Arbuthnot, Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights and Measures. Explain'd and exemplify'd in several dissertations

     The Euxine Sea is conveniently situated for trade, by the communication it has both with Asia and Europe.

   • 1900, Patents for Inventions: Abridgments of Specifications (page 75)

     This communication between the tank and pump is controlled by a float valve in the tanks and a cock in the pipe, while a poppet valve prevents the undrawn liquor going into the waste tank.

7. (anatomy) A connection between two tissues, organs, or cavities.
   • 1855, William Stokes, The Diseases of the Heart and the Aorta Page 617

     ...and here a free communication had been established between the aorta and the vena cava.

8. (obsolete) Association; company.

   • Evil communications corrupt good manners.

9. Participation in Holy Communion.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Pearson to this entry?)

10. (rhetoric) A trope by which a speaker assumes that his hearer is a partner in his sentiments, and says "we" instead of "I" or "you".

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Beattie to this entry?)

Antonyms

• anticommunication

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• excommunication

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????????? (komyunik?shon)

Related terms

Translations

References

• communication at OneLook Dictionary Search
• communication in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "communication" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 72.
• communication in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Further reading

• communication on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Alternative forms

• communicaison

Etymology

From Old French communicacion, borrowed from Latin comm?nic?ti?, comm?nic?ti?nem (“sharing, communication”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?.my.ni.ka.sj??/

Noun

communication f (plural communications)

1. communication

Derived terms

• chargé de communication

Related terms

• communiquer

Further reading

• “communication” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

15th Century; from Medieval Latin missivus, from mittere (“to send”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?m?s?v/

Noun

missive (plural missives)

1. (formal) A written message; a letter, note or memo.
   • 2008, Claire Armistead, The Guardian, 25 Oct 2008:

     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, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 71:

     "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.

2. (in the plural, Scotland, 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.
   • c. 1606: Macbeth by Shakespeare

     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)

1. Specially sent; intended or prepared to be sent.

   a letter missive

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ayliffe to this entry?)

2. (obsolete) Serving as a missile; intended to be thrown.
   • 1700, John Dryden, Cymon And Iphigenia

     The missive weapons fly.

Related terms

• See mission for terms etymologically related to send

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “missive”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

French

Pronunciation

Noun

missive f (plural missives)

1. missive

Italian

Noun

missive f

1. plural of missiva