sortie

[ sawr-tee ]
See synonyms for sortie on Thesaurus.com
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.

  1. 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.

Origin of sortie

1
1680–90; <French, noun use of feminine past participle of sortir to go out

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sortie in a sentence

  • The French had captured three thousand prisoners during the sorties round Genoa.

    Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison
  • After Castiglione he returned to his task round Mantua and gallantly repulsed all sorties.

    Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-Pattison
  • In stealthy sorties one side or the other frequently captured the opposing pickets before alarm could be given.

    The Civil War Through the Camera | Henry W. (Henry William) Elson
  • Not content with simply defending their walls, the Huguenots made sorties, in which many of Anjou's followers were slain.

  • Now and then bands of warriors made sorties, and tried to cut their way through the Spanish line.

    The Spanish Pioneers | Charles F. Lummis

British Dictionary definitions for sortie

sortie

/ (ˈsɔːtɪ) /


noun
    • (of troops, etc) the act of emerging from a contained or besieged position

    • the troops doing this

  1. an operational flight made by one aircraft

  1. a short or relatively short return trip

verb-ties, -tieing or -tied
  1. (intr) to make a sortie

Origin of sortie

1
C17: from French: a going out, from sortir to go out

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