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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

remission.

A pardon of a sin; (chiefly historical, also figuratively) the forgiveness of an offence, or relinquishment of a (legal) claim or a debt.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹɪˈmɪʃ(ə)n/Received-Pronunciation/ɹəˈmɪʃ(ə)n/General-American
  1. A pardon of a sin; (chiefly historical, also figuratively) the forgiveness of an offence, or relinquishment of a (legal) claim or a debt.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A lessening of amount due, as in either money or work, or intensity of a thing.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A lessening of amount due, as in either money or work, or intensity of a thing. A reduction or cancellation of the penalty for a criminal offence; in particular, the reduction of a prison sentence as a recognition of the prisoner's good behaviour.

    countable · uncountable
  4. A lessening of amount due, as in either money or work, or intensity of a thing. An abatement or lessening of the manifestations of a disease; a period where the symptoms of a disease are absent.

    countable · uncountable
    Her cancer was in remission.
  5. An act of remitting, returning, or sending back.

    countable · uncountable
  6. An act of remitting, returning, or sending back. A referral of a case back to another (especially a lower or inferior) court of law; a remand, a remittal.

    countable · uncountable
  7. Reflection or back-scattering of light by a material; (to send back)

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English remissioun (“release from duty; freeing of captives; mercy, pardon, respite; forgiveness; release from or reduction of penances; reduction in intensity (of a quality, symptom, etc.); transfer of property, quitclaim; legal opinion or submission; reference, cross-reference”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman remission, remissione, remissioun, remissiun and Middle French, Old French remission (“forgiveness of sin; pardoning of an offence; postponement; cessation, suspension; diminishing or weakening of something; reduction of debt; reduction in intensity of a disease or symptom”) (modern French rémission), and their etymon Late Latin remissiō (“forgiveness; pardon of sins”), Latin remissiō (“release; sending back; easing off, relaxing, softening; reduction of debt; reduction in intensity of a disease or symptom”), from remittō (“to remit, send back; to diminish; to relax; to do without, forego”) + -siō. Remittō is derived from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + mittō (“to cause to go; to send; to discharge, emit, let go, release; to throw; to extend, reach out; to announce, tell; to produce, yield; to attend, escort, guide; to dismiss, disregard; to end”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange; to change places, go past”) or *(s)meyt- (“to throw”)). The English word is cognate with Catalan remissió, Italian remissioni, remissione (“remission; withdrawal of legal action; compliance, submission”), Old Occitan remessió, Portuguese remisson, remissão (“pardon; remission”), Spanish remisión (“remission”).

verb
  1. To change the mission of; to provide with a new mission.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From re- + mission.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.