Omission

How to spell omission

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce omission

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does omission mean?

1. nounThe act of leaving something out, or the thing that has been left out.

Omission in a sentence

• The omission of her name from the credits caused a complaint.

• A single omission in the contract delayed the entire sale.

Where does omission come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin omissio, meaning 'a leaving out' or 'a neglecting', which was built on the verb omittere, 'to let go' or 'to lay aside'. That verb is itself a compound of the prefix ob-, here in the worn-down sense of 'away', and the very common Latin verb mittere, meaning 'to send' or 'to let go'. So at root an omission is literally something you have 'sent away' or failed to include. English took the word in during the late 1300s and early 1400s, partly through Old French and partly straight from Latin legal and religious writing, where it described sins of failing to act. The same mittere root that gives the single 's' plus double 's' spelling here also powers a large family of relatives such as mission, permit, transmit and dismiss, and remembering that family helps fix the double 's' that the suffix produces.

How the word is built

• o- (from ob-, away)
• miss (from Latin missus, sent or let go)
• -ion (noun suffix forming the act or result)