mission

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A special assignment given to a person or group.
• noun A combat operation assigned to a person or military unit.
• noun An aerospace operation intended to carry out specific program objectives.
• noun An ambition or purpose that is assumed by a person or group.
• noun A body of persons sent to conduct negotiations or establish relations with a foreign country.
• noun The business with which such a body of persons is charged.
• noun A permanent diplomatic office abroad.
• noun A body of experts or dignitaries sent to a foreign country.
• noun A body of persons sent to a foreign land by a religious organization, especially a Christian organization, to spread its faith or provide educational, medical, and other assistance.
• noun A mission established abroad.
• noun The district assigned to a mission worker.
• noun A building or compound housing a mission.
• noun An organization for carrying on missionary work in a territory.
• noun Missionary duty or work.
• noun A Christian church or congregation with no cleric of its own that depends for support on a larger religious organization.
• noun A welfare or educational organization established for the needy people of a district.
• transitive verb To send (someone) on a mission.
• transitive verb To organize or establish a religious mission among (a people) or in (an area).
• adjective Of or relating to a mission.
• adjective Of or relating to a style of architecture or furniture used in the early Spanish missions of California.
• adjective Of or relating to a furniture style originating during the Arts and Crafts Movement and characterized by sturdy, angular, solid wood construction.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A sending of an agent or a messenger; a charge given to go and perform some service; delegation for a specific duty or purpose: as, to be sent on a mission to a foreign government, or to the heathen.
• noun That for which one is sent or commissioned; the power conferred or duty imposed on an envoy or messenger; a delegated business or function; an errand.
• noun Hence That for which a person or thing is destined or designed; predestined function; determinate purpose or object.
• noun An organized effort for the spread of religion, or for the enlightenment and elevation of some community or region; organized missionary effort; religious propagaudism: as, Christian missions; the home and foreign missions of the Presbyterian Church; domestic missions; the city mission.
• noun In the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, a series of special religious services organized to quicken the piety of Christians and convert the impenitent. The person appointed to conduct such a mission is termed a missioner.
• noun A particular field of missionary activity; a missionary post or station, or the body of missionaries established there; a center of organized missionary effort or of religious propagandism; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, the district assigned to a missionary priest.
• noun The office or establishment of a foreign envoy; the charge or post of an ambassador; a foreign legation: as, the mission to Persia; the members of the British mission at Washington.
• noun Dismission; discharge from service.
• noun Synonyms Office, duty, charge, embassy.
• To send on a mission; commission.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb Mostly used in the form of the past participle. To send on a mission.
• noun The act of sending, or the state of being sent; a being sent or delegated by authority, with certain powers for transacting business; comission.
• noun That with which a messenger or agent is charged; an errand; business or duty on which one is sent; a commission.
• noun Persons sent; any number of persons appointed to perform any service; a delegation; an embassy.
• noun An assotiation or organization of missionaries; a station or residence of missionaries.
• noun An organization for worship and work, dependent on one or more churches.
• noun A course of extraordinary sermons and services at a particular place and time for the special purpose of quickening the faith and zeal participants, and of converting unbelievers.
• noun obsolete Dismission; discharge from service.
• noun A school for the religious instruction of children not having regular church privileges.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun countable A set of tasks that fulfills a purpose or duty; an assignment set by an employer.
• noun uncountable Religious evangelism.
• noun uncountable (the missions) collective term for third world charities, particularly those which preach as well as provide aid.
• noun countable (Catholic tradition) an infrequent gathering of religious believers in a parish, usually part of a larger regional event with a central theme.
• verb transitive To send to a mission.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an organization of missionaries in a foreign land sent to carry on religious work
• noun a special assignment that is given to a person or group