sortie
Americannoun
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a rapid movement of troops from a besieged place to attack the besiegers.
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a body of troops involved in such a movement.
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the flying of an airplane on a combat mission.
verb (used without object)
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sorties,
present (3rd person singular)
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sortied,
past participle, past
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sortieing
present participle
noun
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(of troops, etc) the act of emerging from a contained or besieged position
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the troops doing this
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an operational flight made by one aircraft
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a short or relatively short return trip
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sortiesimple
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sortiessimple
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have sortiedperfect
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has sortiedperfect
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am sortieingprogressive
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are sortieingprogressive
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is sortieingprogressive
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have been sortieingperfect progressive
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has been sortieingperfect progressive
Past
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sortiedsimple
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had sortiedperfect
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was sortieingprogressive
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were sortieingprogressive
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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
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This Week in Words: May 11–17, 2019
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 6
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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:
“The near-zero sortie counts seen on some days since February should be viewed as an extreme manifestation of a longer-term trend, rather than a sudden development,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Turk’s bad back makes it a brief sortie, but the attempt confirms that their friendship remains fundamentally intact.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2026
The jet first 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. 22, 2025
River are all part of the perfect Sunday sortie for the ‘Animal Control’ star.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 7, 2025
“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
B-1 bombers at the base, which has been used by the U.S. to fly “defensive” sorties in the Middle East conflict, were a likely target.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 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
If the press got wind of the Cambodian sorties, he could claim American planes had strayed accidentally over the border.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
The ROK Air Force then sortied its fighters, including about 80 fifth-generation F-35As.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 4, 2022
After a proper tea, the cruisers again sortied out of the smoke.
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
With an eye on relaxation as well as royalties, some well-established novelists and poets have sortied from their usual literary habitat and invaded the children's book field with happy results.
From Time Magazine Archive
Let the man who was a hero—Daulac; Brock; the twelve who sortied at Lacolle Mill; our deathless three hundred of Chateauguay,—never to be forgotten.
From The Young Seigneur Or, Nation-Making by W. D. (William Douw) Lighthall
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