different between intelligence vs missive

English

Etymology

From Old French intelligence, from Latin intelligentia. Doublet of intelligentsia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?t?l.?.d???ns/

Noun

intelligence (countable and uncountable, plural intelligences)

1. (chiefly uncountable) Capacity of mind, especially to understand principles, truths, facts or meanings, acquire knowledge, and apply it to practice; the ability to comprehend and learn.
   • 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     Not so, however, with Tarzan, the man-child. His life amidst the dangers of the jungle had taught him to meet emergencies with self-confidence, and his higher intelligence resulted in a quickness of mental action far beyond the powers of the apes.
2. (countable) An entity that has such capacities.

   • The great Intelligences fair / That range above our mortal state, / In circle round the blessed gate, / Received and gave him welcome there.
3. (chiefly uncountable) Information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
4. (countable) A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information, usually secret, about the enemy or about hostile activities.
5. (dated) Acquaintance; intercourse; familiarity.

Synonyms

• (capacity of mind): wit, intellect, brightness
• (entity): see Thesaurus:sentient
• See also Thesaurus:intelligence

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin intelligentia (“the act of choosing between, intelligence”), from intelleg? (“understand”), from inter (“between”) + leg? (“choose, pick out, read”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.t?.li.???s/, /??.te.li.???s/

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence; cleverness
2. comprehension

Derived terms

• être d'intelligence
• intelligence artificielle

Further reading

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

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English intelligence.

Noun

intelligence f (invariable)

1. A political or military department, agency or unit designed to gather information.

Middle French

Noun

intelligence f (plural intelligences)

1. intelligence
2. comprehension

Old French

Noun

intelligence f (oblique plural intelligences, nominative singular intelligence, nominative plural intelligences)

1. comprehension
2. meaning
3. ability to comprehend

Descendants

• ? English: intelligence
• French: intelligence

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (intelligence, supplement)

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