different between missive vs omissive

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

English

Adjective

omissive (comparative more omissive, superlative most omissive)

1. tending to omit things
2. caused by omission

Italian

Adjective

omissive

1. feminine plural of omissivo

Anagrams

• emissivo