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View synonyms for sortie

sortie

[ sawr-tee ]

noun

  1. a rapid movement of troops from a besieged place to attack the besiegers.
  2. a body of troops involved in such a movement.
  3. the flying of an airplane on a combat mission.


verb (used without object)

, sor·tied, sor·tie·ing.
  1. to go on a sortie; sally forth.

sortie

/ ˈsɔːtɪ /

noun

    1. (of troops, etc) the act of emerging from a contained or besieged position
    2. the troops doing this
  1. an operational flight made by one aircraft
  2. a short or relatively short return trip
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


verb

  1. intr to make a sortie
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of sortie1

1680–90; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of sortir to go out
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Word History and Origins

Origin of sortie1

C17: from French: a going out, from sortir to go out
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Example Sentences

Beijing is already sending air and naval sorties close to Taiwan territory with alarming frequency.

From Time

That’s appropriate, as its agents here are engaged in a kind of war, flying constant sorties against enemy forces that could spread illness across these subtropical islands if left unchecked.

From Time

My grandfather, his father, was a WW1 ace and was on the sortie which downed the Red Baron.

Lieutenant-Colonel Abercromby, who had led the only serious sortie from Yorktown, chewed his sword in impotent rage.

Many ladies do not like to display their "sortie du soire" before a crowded room, and you will be keeping their escort waiting.

By September the enemy had opened their trenches round Perpignan, and Prignon was entrusted with a night sortie.

Bonaparte attacked Valetta, in Malta, and in a sortie the Maltese lost the standard of their order.

But the garrison made a sortie, seized the towers, destroyed them, and killed or captured the soldiers who manned them.

In a sortie Bohemond the crafty and brave was wounded; Tancred's and Godfrey's valor ended in repulse.

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sortedsortilege