sortie

[ sawr-tee ]

/ ˈsɔr ti /

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.

Nearby words

sort out, sorta, sortal, sortation, sorted, sortie, sortilege, sorting, sorting tracks, sorting yard, sortition

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
Light-signals were arranged with Thionville, and all preparations made for a sortie on the 7th.
The Franco-German War of 1870-71|Count Helmuth, von Moltke
All now looked to the general, expecting he would utter the decisive word, and order the garrison to make a sortie.
Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia|L. Mhlbach,
He died from a wound he received during a sortie from Basing House on the 14th of September, 1644.
Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 91, July 26, 1851|Various

Late this afternoon we started, four of us, with Davis as leader, to make the usual two-hour sortie over the lines.
High Adventure|James Norman Hall
And now with Ned Rackham in the van, it seemed that the British sailors were in a parlous plight and that their sortie must fail.
Blackbeard: Buccaneer|Ralph D. Paine

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

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