What does dismission mean?
Dismission is a noun referring to the act of dismissing — most commonly the removal of a person from employment, office, or service, though it can also denote the formal sending away of a person or the winding up of an assembly or matter. It derives from the same Latin root as dismissal and has long served as its near-synonym, but the two words have diverged sharply in fortune: dismissal became the everyday standard, while dismission receded into formal, literary, or historical use. Today a reader encounters it mostly in older documents, court records, and period prose, where phrases like 'his dismission from the service' appear. Its tone is dry and institutional rather than emotional, carrying connotations of official procedure rather than personal drama. For writers, it is best treated as a deliberate archaism — useful for historical flavor or quotation, but out of place where plain, modern wording is wanted. Knowing the word helps in reading older texts fluently and in recognizing how synonyms rise and fall over time.
nounThe act of dismissing someone or something, especially from employment or office; a formal sending away or removal.
- The act of dismissing someone from employment or office
- A formal sending away or release (of a person, assembly, or matter)
"The board's dismission of the proposal surprised no one who had read the report."
"His dismission from the firm followed months of declining performance reviews."
"The chairman announced the dismission of the committee once its report had been accepted."
Regular plural; used when referring to multiple acts of dismissing, typically in historical or administrative records.
"The ledger recorded several dismissions during the director's tenure."
Before 'getting dismissed' was routine, English speakers said you received your 'dismission' — a word that has quietly faded into the archives of formal prose.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dismission
Dismission comes from the Latin verb dimittere ('to send apart, send away'), formed from the prefix dis- ('apart') plus mittere ('to send'). English adopted the noun via the related Latin noun dimissio, in the early modern period alongside its sibling word dismissal. It belongs to the large family of English words built on the Latin mittere/miss- root, which also gives us mission, remit, and missile. Over time, dismissal won out as the ordinary term, leaving dismission as a largely historical variant.
How dismission is actually used
Formal and somewhat archaic in register; 'dismissal' is strongly preferred in contemporary usage. 'Dismission' survives mainly in older texts, legal contexts, and American historical writing.
Easily confused with dismission
Dismissal is the standard modern term for being removed from a job or for rejecting an idea, while dismission is an older, rarer variant meaning essentially the same thing.