incursion
Americannoun
-
a sudden invasion, attack, or raid
-
the act of running or leaking into; penetration
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of incursion
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin incursiōn- (stem of incursiō ) raid, equivalent to incurs ( us ) (past participle of incurrere to incur ) + -iōn- -ion; see excursion
Explanation
When an army crosses a border into another country for battle, they are making an incursion into enemy territory. An incursion is an invasion as well as an attack. Incursion can also be used to describe other things that rush in like an army such as an invasive species into a new region or floodwaters entering your home. When an airplane heads onto a runway it is not supposed to land on, risking airport safety, it is known as a runway incursion. And an incursion of cold air could make September feel like December.
Vocabulary lists containing incursion
Lord of the Flies
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The Son of Neptune
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Texas v. Johnson (1989)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He told me their expectation was, at worst, a small, limited incursion by Hamas fighters.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
That incursion of private-label brands can be felt across the consumer-goods landscape.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
"We've been campaigning on planning issues and... the incursion of the city on the East End for quite a number of years," said Jonathan Moberly, who is leading local opposition.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Their size corresponds to small arrowheads, which are directly comparable to those produced by Homo sapiens during an incursion into Neanderthal territory in the Rhône Valley, 25,000 years later.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026
The play she saw as a gentle incursion into another culture we played as a comic romp with great effect.
From "Bad Boy" by Walter Dean Myers
Crude oil futures were sliding as more barrels of oil moved through the Strait of Hormuz, although the risk of new military incursions remained strong.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
In recent months, states across NATO's eastern flank have faced a raft of hostile actions from Moscow and Minsk ranging from drone incursions to cyberattacks.
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
Military drone incursions have become increasingly common across Europe since the beginning of Russia's full-scale of invasion of Ukraine.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
It and other countries along NATO's eastern flank including Romania and Poland have suffered repeated incursions into their airspace.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
So Dany had dispatched her tiny khalasar to subdue the hinterlands, under the command of her three bloodriders, whilst Brown Ben Plumm took his Second Sons south to guard against Yunkish incursions.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
