missive

/ˈmɪsɪv/

Other forms: missives

A missive usually refers to the old-school style of hand-written communication on paper (remember that?), but these days you also might hear an email called a missive. No matter how you deliver it, a missive is a message.

The noun missive comes from the Latin word missus, meaning "to send." You may have heard the phrase, "fire off a missive," meaning a note, memo or dispatch that was written and sent with urgency and conveyed an important message. It might have been a missive sent from a commander to the troops, telling them of a change in the battle plan. Or, maybe it was an urgent love letter to the commander's wife back home, telling her to tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree...

Definitions of missive

1. noun

   a written message addressed to a person or organization
   synonyms: letter

   types:

   business letter

   a letter dealing with business

   cover letter, covering letter

   a letter sent along with other documents to provide additional information

   crank letter

   a hostile (usually anonymous) letter

   encyclical, encyclical letter

   a letter from the pope sent to all Roman Catholic bishops throughout the world

   fan letter

   a letter that is a piece of fan mail

   personal letter

   a letter dealing with personal affairs

   form letter

   a letter that is printed in multiple copies and mailed to a list of recipients

   open letter

   a letter of protest; addressed to one person but intended for the general public

   chain letter

   a letter that is sent successively to several people

   pastoral

   a letter from a pastor to the congregation

   round robin

   a letter signed by a number of people

   aerogram, aerogramme, air letter, airmail letter

   a letter sent by air mail

   epistle

   a specially long, formal letter

   dead letter, dead mail

   mail that can neither be delivered nor returned

   letter of intent

   any letter expressing an intention to take (or forgo) some action

   invitation

   a request (spoken or written) to participate or be present or take part in something

   billet, line, note, short letter

   a short personal letter

   billet doux, love letter

   a personal letter to a loved one expressing affection

   bidding, summons

   a request to be present

   invite

   a colloquial expression for invitation

   investment letter

   a letter of intent saying that a letter security is being bought for investment and not for resale; avoids need for SEC registration

   type of:

   document

   anything serving as a representation of a person's thinking by means of symbolic marks

   text, textual matter

   the words of something written