sortie

[sawr-tee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sortie ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a rapid movement of troops from a besieged place to attack the besiegers.

a body of troops involved in such a movement.

the flying of an airplane on a combat mission.

verb (used without object), sor·tied, sor·tie·ing.

to go on a sortie; sally forth.

Origin of sortie

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. 2019

Related Words for sortie

raid, rush, charge, mission, assault, invasion, strike, offense, sally

Examples from the Web for sortie

Contemporary Examples of sortie

My grandfather, his father, was a WW1 ace and was on the sortie which downed the Red Baron.
The Story Behind This Photo of an RAF Pilot
David Frum
March 17, 2013

Historical Examples of sortie

But the British have retreated, you say, and there was a sortie from the fort?
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
It was difficult to reply to this, for a sortie was out of the question.
The Field of Ice
Jules Verne
The question of a sortie began now to be seriously discussed.
The Field of Ice
Jules Verne
Boone was wounded, and very nearly lost his life, in a sortie.
Chronicles of Border Warfare
Alexander Scott Withers
All the signs pointed to a sortie in force from the fortifications.
Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman
J. H. (James Harvey) Kidd

British Dictionary definitions for sortie

sortie

noun

(of troops, etc) the act of emerging from a contained or besieged position
the troops doing this

an operational flight made by one aircraft

a short or relatively short return trip

verb -ties, -tieing or -tied

(intr) to make a sortie

Word Origin for sortie

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

Word Origin and History for sortie

"attack of the besieged upon the besiegers," 1778, from French sortie (16c.), literally "a going out," noun use of fem. past participle of sortir "go out," from Vulgar Latin *surctire, from Latin surrectus, past participle of surgere "rise up" (see surge (n.)).