foreign mission
- noun
- Formal
:
misión diplomática
- The foreign mission in Paris is responsible for managing diplomatic relations with France.
Examples
-
The ambassador gave a speech at the opening of the new foreign mission in Berlin.
-
Machen, it will be recalled, was the purist who had forced Buck out of the Presbyterian foreign mission cadre in 1933.
Academic text (2003) -
Our government is planning to increase funding for foreign missions to improve international relations.
Synonyms
574
3.3
A building and people who represent their country in a foreign country
159
6.3
A building where a foreign country's official helps its citizens with passports and legal problems
13
3.9
A group of people sent by one country to represent it in another at an embassy or consulate
3
9.9
A permanent diplomatic office in another country led by a minister rather than an ambassador
2
6.4
An official office that represents one Commonwealth country in another
1
9.9
An official mission sent by an ambassador to negotiate
A government building where diplomats live and work, like an embassy or consulate
How Senior
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from 'foreign' (relating to another country) + 'mission' (an organized task or operation): a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a mission operating in another country. This adjectival + noun composition is regular in English and has clear cross-linguistic equivalents, so the expression is transparently compositional.
Etymology
The phrase foreign mission comes from the old idea of sending a group to another country. A mission is a team sent to do a job and foreign means in another country, so a foreign mission is the office sent 'to represent' its country abroad.