embassy

noun

em·​bas·​sy ˈem-bə-sē 

plural embassies

1

: a body of diplomatic representatives

specifically : one headed by an ambassador

2

a

: the function or position of an ambassador

b

: a mission abroad undertaken officially especially by an ambassador

3

: embassage sense 1

4

: the official residence and offices of an ambassador

Examples of embassy in a Sentence

Protesters marched outside the American embassy.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. —Deborah Sophia, USA Today, 9 May 2025

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese embassy in the U.S. via email for comment. —Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 May 2025

The embassy, under Brazilian protection following Argentina’s diplomatic expulsion from Venezuela, had become a flashpoint in the ongoing diplomatic crisis. —Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 7 May 2025

More than 400 visitors to the embassy enjoyed a free bowl of Lanzhou beef noodles – a style associated with the city of Lanzhou, Gansu’s capital. —Russell Flannery, Forbes.com, 7 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably alteration (by substitution of the suffix -y entry 2) of embassade, variant (with em- after embassador "ambassador" and other derivatives based on Romance forms with em- em- replacing am- of ambassade,) going back to Middle English ambassiat, ambassiad, ambassate, ambassade "office of an ambassador, diplomatic mission, persons trusted with such a mission," borrowed from Anglo-French ambassiate, ambassade "diplomatic mission" and Middle French ambassade, ambaxade "diplomatic or political mission, persons sent on such a mission, ambassador," borrowed from Italian (13th-century) ambasciata "diplomatic mission, official message," borrowed from Old Occitan ambayssada "diplomatic mission," earlier ambayssat "message," derivatives (with the suffixes of action and result -at, -ada) of *ambaissa, going back to Late Latin ambascia, ambassia "mission, errand, task, journey," borrowed from Germanic *ambahtja- "service, office" (whence Old English ambiht, embiht "service, ministry," Old Saxon ambaht "office, service," Old High German ambahti "commission, task, obligation, service," Old Icelandic embætti "service, office, task," Gothic andbahti "office, service, assistance"), derivative of *ambahtjōn- or *ambahta- "servant, follower" (whence Old English ombiht, embiht "servant, attendant, officer," Old Saxon ambahtio "servant," Old High German ambaht "servant, holder of a spiritual or lay office," Old Icelandic ambátt "bondwoman, female servant," Gothic andbahts "servant"), borrowed from Celtic *ambaχto- (whence Welsh amaeth "plowman, tillage," Gaulish *ambaktos, in Latin texts as ambactus "servant"), agentive noun from the verbal adjective of *ambi-ag-, whence Old Irish imm‧aig "(s/he) drives around, pursues," going back to Indo-European *h₂m̥b^hi "around" + *h₂eǵ- "drive" — more at -ade, ambient entry 1, agent

Note: Romance and Medieval Latin forms show frequent fluctuation between initial am- and em- in this family of words; this is conditioned by the replacement of am- by the more transparent verb-forming prefix em-, and perhaps in part also by the homonymy of the two suffixes in medieval French. The form embassy competed in early Modern English with ambassy, but the latter apparently declined by the eighteenth century. Samuel Johnson noted in his dictionary (1755) that "our authors write almost indiscriminately embassador or ambassador, embassage or ambassage; yet there is scarce an example of ambassy, all concurring to write embassy." — The hypothesis that Italian ambasciata represents a loan from Old Occitan rather than a direct borrowing from spoken Latin *ambactiāta or from Germanic is based on phonetic developments in Italian: the cluster -kti̯- regularly results in -cci- (tracciare "to trace, mark out," from *tractiāre) or -zz- (drizzare "to direct," from *dīrectiāre), but not -sci-. — As noted by Ernout and Meillet (Dictionaire étymologique de la langue latine), the word ambactus is not naturalized in Latin ("Mot étranger—non pas mot d'emprunt"). Its use is attributed to the early Roman author Ennius by the grammarian Sextus Pompeius Festus: "apud Ennium lingua gallica seruus appellatur … seruus ambactus, i.e. circumactus dicitur" (in the work of Ennius servus ["slave, servant"] is called [by a word in] Gaulish …servus is ambactus, that is to say, "one who is made to go around"); ambactus is not, however, attested in the extant fragments of Ennius's poetry. More light is thrown on the word by Julius Caesar, who uses the word in describing Gaulish social structure (De bello Gallico, 6.15.2): "… atque eorum ut quisque est genere copiisque amplissimus, ita plurimos circum se ambactos clientesque habet." ("And as each of them [the equites = "knights," as opposed to the druids and the commoners] is distinguished by birth or resources, so he maintains around himself the greater number of ambacti and clients.") Here the word more likely means "follower" or "vassal" than "servant" or "slave," corresponding to its meaning in Germanic ("servant," but also "person fulfilling an official function"). These senses underly the rich development of the word in Romance languages. The Welsh word amaeth "plowman," however, retains what must have been the original meaning of the deverbal derivative, "one who drives (a plowing ox) around."

First Known Use

1549, in the meaning defined at sense 2b

Kids Definition

embassy

noun

em·​bas·​sy ˈem-bə-sē 

plural embassies

1

: a group of representatives headed by an ambassador

2

: the position, role, or business of an ambassador

3

: the residence or office of an ambassador