1
2
as in spy
a person who tries secretly to obtain information for one country in the territory of another usually unfriendly country the embassy's staff likely contains at least one emissary who reports to the home country's chief of intelligence

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of emissary Two weeks before his second Inauguration, Trump sent his son Donald, Jr., to Nuuk, as an emissary of sorts. Louise Bokkenheuser, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2025 On Friday, the Trump administration sent an emissary to Venezuela to meet directly with Maduro, and return home with six American hostages. Claire Healy, Miami Herald, 2 Feb. 2025 That was the year when Fred Popenoe, proprietor of the West India Gardens nursery in Altadena, sent an emissary to Mexico with the task of bringing back budwood cuttings for the purpose of grafting them onto avocado seedlings, with the hope that some would become commercially successful varieties. Joshua Siskin, Orange County Register, 1 Feb. 2025 Qin Fu is supposed to be meeting an emissary of China’s Empress Dowager on arrival, sent to catch a gang of political fugitives, but Holmes encourages his new protégé to assume his identity – apparently their names sound similar in Chinese – and investigate the Chinatown murders on his behalf. James Marsh, Deadline, 31 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for emissary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for emissary
Noun
  • Recently, Unrivaled announced via ESPN Paige Bueckers, UConn star, and projected first pick in the draft has signed a three-year deal with the league after serving as a league ambassador this past season.
    Allison Smith, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Tyla was announced as a Pandora ambassador on April 8, before her Coachella 2025 performance.
    Renan Botelho, Footwear News, 12 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • The astrophysicist, who keeps close tabs on orbital traffic, said that on the day of the interview (April 4), at least three objects had returned from space — two of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites and a 43-year-old Russian spy satellite called Kosmos 1340.
    Tereza Pultarova, Space.com, 14 Apr. 2025
  • What to know about the complex, long-simmering civil war Dearlove served as Britain's top spy between 1999 and 2004, when Tony Blair was prime minister.
    Kim Hjelmgaard, USA Today, 14 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • This would likely mean an end to the envoy’s office.
    Hannah Rae Armstrong, Foreign Affairs, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Middle East special envoy Steve Witoff attended the first meeting earlier this month with Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia, with discussions including Ukraine and their own economic arrangement.
    Naomi Lim, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 1 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Those qualities should top your list of agent must-haves, along with clear communication and high client ratings.
    Berit Thorkelson, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Apr. 2025
  • Sellers can now choose whether to offer buyer agent compensation through MLS platforms—a change that has already begun reshaping how homes are bought and sold across the country.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Newsweek reached out to Perry's representative via email for comment on Monday.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Apr. 2025
  • Today’s official kick-off follows the signing of an accord by representatives of the European Union’s European Investment Fund (EIF) in Paris on Friday committing €25M ($28.5M) to the fund.
    Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 13 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Rather, Nick Badolato, a Brooklyn Conservative Party operative, collected signatures to run on the party’s line against Zhuang.
    Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News, 14 Apr. 2025
  • In one case, operatives posing as art dealers interested in purchasing a work by a dissident artist secretly installed surveillance equipment in his workplace and a GPS tracker on his car.
    David Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • After John Kerry’s speech accepting the nomination for president, balloons were supposed to drop from the ceiling onto the delegates below.
    Paul Grein, Billboard, 13 Apr. 2025
  • Sainz was spoken to by the FIA’s media delegate over his language on Friday morning in Bahrain ahead of opening practice at the Sakhir circuit.
    Luke Smith, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • Ong, 79, is scheduled to plead guilty next week to charges related to the offences of former transport minister S. Iswaran, who was convicted in October of breaking the law for receiving gifts from the businessman.
    Jonathan Burgos, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025
  • She was born near Pittsburgh, the daughter of a minister.
    Charles Bethea, New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Emissary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/emissary. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on emissary

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!