emissary

noun em·is·sary \ ˈe-mə-ˌser-ē , -ˌse-rē \

|Updated on: 11 Aug 2018

Examples: emissary in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of emissary

plural emissaries

1 : one designated as the agent of another : representative

2 : a secret agent

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Examples of emissary in a Sentence

She acted as the president's personal emissary to the union leaders.
most of the industrialized nations of the world sent emissaries to the conference on global warming

Recent Examples of emissary from the Web

The North didn’t answer U.S. phone calls and its emissaries didn’t even show up for a pre-summit meeting in Singapore.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "Moon Over Singapore," 28 May 2018
We weren't focused on this story, about another Trump tower meeting in 2016 between Donald Trump, Jr. and an emissary for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who offered to help the Trump campaign.

— NBC News, "Meet the Press - May 27, 2018," 27 May 2018
Nader is an emissary for the princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

— billy house, Bloomberg.com, "Trump Vents About ‘$20 Million Witch Hunt’ After Gulf-Ties Story," 20 May 2018
Another was an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes.

— mark mazzetti, BostonGlobe.com, "Trump Jr. and other aides met with Gulf emissary offering help to win election," 19 May 2018
And this is — Apple had Jimmy Iovine as sort of their emissary to the music business.

— recode staff, Recode, "Full transcript: YouTube Music head Lyor Cohen on Recode Media," 12 June 2018
An evangelical Christian himself, Mr. Pence has often served as an administration emissary to conservative religious audiences—a constituency that is essential to Republican hopes in the 2018 midterm election.

— ian lovett, WSJ, "Pence Speaks at Baptist Convention, Highest Official to Appear at Meeting in Decades," 13 June 2018
The dream of such a visit seems as remote as the stars themselves—unless, perhaps, the stars somehow send emissaries to us.

— lee billings, Scientific American, "Astronomers Spot Potential "Interstellar" Asteroid Orbiting Backward around the Sun," 21 May 2018
Comets would thus be the default emissaries from other stars.

— nola taylor redd, Scientific American, "Interstellar Mystery Object Now Thought to Be a Comet," 27 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'emissary.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Like missionaries, emissaries are sent on missions. However, emissaries are more likely to be representing governments, political leaders, and nonreligious institutions, and an emissary's mission is usually to negotiate or to gather information. So a president may send a trusted emissary to a war-torn region to discuss peace terms. A company's CEO may send an emissary to check out another company that they may be thinking of buying. And a politician may send out an emissary to persuade a wealthy individual to become a supporter.