sortie
Americannoun
-
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)
-
sorties,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sortied,
past participle, past
-
sortieing
present participle
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
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sortiesimple
-
sortiessimple
-
have sortiedperfect
-
has sortiedperfect
-
am sortieingprogressive
-
are sortieingprogressive
-
is sortieingprogressive
-
have been sortieingperfect progressive
-
has been sortieingperfect progressive
Past
-
sortiedsimple
-
had sortiedperfect
-
was sortieingprogressive
-
were sortieingprogressive
-
had been sortieingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sortie
1680–90; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of sortir to go out
Explanation
When a group of soldiers is sent on a specific mission, it's called a sortie. A fighter pilot's sortie might involve a mission to drop a bomb on a target and return to base. When a fighting unit is deployed, heading out on a military mission, you can describe it as a sortie. A sortie might involve troops moving across a field toward their enemy, or a tank advancing on a city held by rebels. Sometimes a sortie involves a sudden surge or attack. In French, the word sortie literally means "a going out," from a Latin root, surgere, or "rise up."
Vocabulary lists containing sortie
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
This Week in Words: May 11–17, 2019
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Tolkien Reading Day, List 6
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Turk’s bad back makes it a brief sortie, but the attempt confirms that their friendship remains fundamentally intact.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2026
Air-superiority missions, for instance, would require them to sortie and remain “on station” in Taiwan’s vicinity for a time before returning, which isn’t viable from Guam, Heginbotham said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
The F-35B landed on 14 June at Thiruvananthapuram airport in the southern state of Kerala where it was diverted after it ran into bad weather during a sortie in the Indian ocean.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2025
But this time the Russian plane wasn’t on a bombing sortie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
“I forbid you to make a sortie today.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
"Ten thousand sorties, 23,000 combat flight hours, almost 4,000 combat sorties," he said, later announcing the award of a presidential unit citation to the strike group for "extraordinary heroism against enemy forces."
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
The two men often kept in touch about their sorties, but not this time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Made at secret locations across Ukraine by Bavovna, the Perun Max can carry "three projectiles, drop them on targets, return, reload and take off again," making up to 30 sorties a night, he said.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
Indian air force helicopters flew several sorties rescuing hundreds of people, including foreign nationals.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
Rob announced that the first of these acclimatization sorties would occur on April 13—a one-day round-trip to Camp One, perched on the uppermost brow of the Khumbu Icefall, a vertical half mile above.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
The ROK Air Force then sortied its fighters, including about 80 fifth-generation F-35As.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 4, 2022
We had a fraternity office on campus from which we occasionally sortied out to class or, just as often, to the student lounge, where we tried to master the mambo.
From Time Magazine Archive
While his classmates flew long, bitterly cold patrols at the front that winter, young Stalin sortied into Moscow.
From Time Magazine Archive
Japan's main fleet never again sortied in full force.
From Time Magazine Archive
When they came opposite the rock which had sheltered Johnny they sortied to see if that part of the mesa was guarded, but there was no sign of life upon it.
From Hopalong Cassidy by Clarence E. Mulford
Definitions 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.
