embassy

noun

em·​bas·​sy ˈem-bə-sē How to pronounce embassy (audio)
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
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 Biden did not approve the larger residual force, opting to keep a smaller force of 650 that would be limited to securing the U.S. embassy. Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 20 Mar. 2024 One of the country’s few prominent dissidents, Jamal Khashoggi, left a Saudi embassy in pieces in a suitcase after he was murdered by Saudi operatives in an attack that U.S. intelligence agencies concluded was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. Bernie Sanders, Foreign Affairs, 18 Mar. 2024 There were some protesters outside polling stations and Russian embassies across the globe on Sunday, the final day of the election. Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 18 Mar. 2024 The men, whose $11.5 million scheme included creating a fictional country and embassy, were each sentenced to prison earlier this month. Journal Sentinel, 18 Mar. 2024 And around the same time, several hundred voters formed a line outside the embassy in Riga, Latvia, despite the document checks carried out by local police. Nanna Heitmann, New York Times, 17 Mar. 2024 The Noon Against Putin protest was particularly striking at Russian embassies in nations with significant populations of Russians who fled after the invasion of Ukraine. Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2024 Some Russians living abroad also joined the demonstration by lining up outside Russian embassies around the world. John Bacon, USA TODAY, 17 Mar. 2024 Gantz's visit reveals tensions Israeli media reports that Gantz's visit to Washington was not pre-authorized by the prime minister's office, and that Netanyahu has asked that the Israeli embassy decline to facilitate Gantz's trip and to not allow any embassy staff to attend any of his meetings. D. Parvaz, NPR, 4 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'embassy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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 *h2m̥bhi "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

Time Traveler
The first known use of embassy was in 1549

Dictionary Entries Near embassy

Cite this Entry

“Embassy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embassy. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

embassy

noun
em·​bas·​sy ˈem-bə-sē How to pronounce embassy (audio)
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
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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