A mission literally means something that is sent, from the Latin word missum, "sent".

• Thus we may refer to space exploration expeditions as "space missions",
• or to a diplomatic outpost in a foreign territory as a "diplomatic mission".
• Christian missions are movements or outposts of Christian proselytism.
  • Mission is often used to refer to the outposts established by Spanish friars in what are now the southwestern states of the United States, and to the buildings that remain from those outposts; see California missions. The Mission District of San Francisco derives its name from such a Mission, the Mission San Francisco de Asis.
  • Mission High School in San Francisco, near the Mission District and Mission San Francisco de Asis, and named due to this proximity, is sometimes referred to as "Mission."
  • A mission station is a name for the location of missionary practice, often associated with the displacement of local people during the process of colonisation.
  • Mormon missions are geographic regions established by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in which its full-time missionaries proselytize. It was reported in the April 2005 General Conference of the Church that there are currently 338 missions worldwide.
• Several cities and towns are named Mission, including:
  • Mission, British Columbia, in Canada
  • Mission, Kansas, in the United States
  • Mission, Oregon, in the US
  • Mission, South_Dakota, in the US
  • Mission, Texas, in the US
• The 1986 film The Mission has a Christian mission as its setting.
• Analogously to the religious use, some businesses see and label their marketing practices as "missions". Other businesses may simply subscribe to mission statements as credos.
• In military parlance, "operations" are sometimes termed "missions".
• Mission is also the name of an ethnic group.