Word of the Day Archive
Thursday November 21, 2002
missive \MIS-iv\ , noun:
A written message; a letter.
She also agreed to write to the Prince, while the Count included a suitably outraged missive of his own.
-- Saul David, Prince of Pleasure
Well, somebody sent the invitation, I said, getting back to the mysterious missive.
-- Jane Heller, Name Dropping
Missive comes from the Medieval French lettre missive, literally, letter intended to be sent; it ultimately derives from Latin missus, past participle of mittere, to send.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for missive
