missions

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of mission.

   The agency planned three reconnaissance missions over the contested border.

   Religious missions established schools across the region during the colonial era.

   Note

   Most meanings of the singular pluralize without fuss, so a reconnaissance flight, a diplomatic delegation and a missionary expedition all become missions, and only context says which is meant. One meaning lives mainly in the plural: the missions, a collective name for Third World charities, especially those that preach as well as provide aid.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of mission.

   Note

   One spelling, two constructions. With an object it means dispatching someone (the foundation missions specialists overseas). Without one it means doing missionary work oneself, the sense of proselytizing. The presence of an object is the quickest way to tell them apart. Because it shares its spelling with the plural noun, the verb is easiest to spot by its subject.

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