Meanings
- Actively and determinedly engaged on a task.
So she walked and as the night begun^([sic]) to engulf the countryside Emily still did not tire, she was on a mission; a mission to save her friend, her sister.
2014 March 5, Keira Donegan, “We’re Not Alone”, in The Truth and Other Lies, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 391 more example
Gareth Southgate's side were on a mission to travel one step further than any England side has done since the 1966 World Cup final win against West Germany and they finally achieved the long-cherished goal as they came from behind to beat Denmark after extra time.
2021 July 7, Phil McNulty, “European Championship – Semi-final: England 2 – 1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 12 Apr 2023 - slangLooking for drugs; on a drug run.
I'm slipping on my khaki suit (Which one?) / The blue one, gun by my side as I mob to the beach / On a mission and I'm fishing for my DJ Warren G
1993 November 23, Calvin Broadus Jr., Andre Young, Delmar Arnaud, “Gz Up, Hoes Down” (track 18), in Doggystyle, performed by Snoop Doggy Dogg, Los Angeles, Calif.: Death Row Records, →OCLC2 more examples
Unfortunately for that relationship, I was a train wreck from day one. All I could think was, Where can I get some drugs? I was on a mission, as I called it. I knew that if I could find Jeremy, I would be able to get high. I had heard he had advanced to harder drugs. Plus, I trusted him. Either way, I had to find something.
2015, Tracey Helton Mitchell, “Let’s Get This Out of the Way”, in The Big Fix: Hope after Heroin, Berkeley, Calif.: Seal Press, Perseus Books Group, →ISBN, pages 42–43I was with a patient, Loretta. “That guy is on a mission,” she told me. ¶ “What does that mean?” I asked. ¶ “A mission. You know, a mission. He needs some crack. He’s on a mission.” […] “I know. That guy is on a mission. I recognize it. Any crackhead would. I seen it many times.” Loretta had been there. She’d first come to me after spending a year in a halfway house getting off drugs.
2015, Susan C. Ball, “1999: Coping with a Different Paradigm”, in Suzanne Gordon, Siobhan Nelson, editors, Voices in the Band: A Doctor, Her Patients, and How the Outlook on AIDS Care Changed from Doomed to Hopeful (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work), Ithaca, N.Y.; London: ILR Press, Cornell University Press, →ISBN, pages 225–226
Origin
From on + a + mission (“set of tasks that fulfils a duty or purpose; deeply felt ambition in life”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish olla päämäärä, kamaa hakemassa
- olla päämääräactively and determinedly engaged on a task
- kamaa hakemassalooking for drugs
French en mission
- en missionactively and determinedly engaged on a task
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with on a mission
Cite this entry
on a mission. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20a%20mission
“on a mission.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20a%20mission. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on a mission,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20a%20mission.
Source: on a mission on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.