sortie

American  

[sawr-tee] / ˈsɔr ti /

noun

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

2. a body of troops involved in such a movement.

3. the flying of an airplane on a combat mission.

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verb (used without object)

sortied, sortieing

1. to go on a sortie; sally forth.

sortie British  

/ ˈsɔːtɪ /

noun

1. 1. (of troops, etc) the act of emerging from a contained or besieged position

   2. the troops doing this

2. an operational flight made by one aircraft

3. a short or relatively short return trip

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verb

1. (intr) to make a sortie

Etymology

Origin of sortie

1680–90; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of sortir to go out

Example Sentences

Its air force has been flying thousands of sorties around the clock over Iran.

From The Wall Street Journal

US and Israeli aircraft use a considerable amount of fuel reaching the Gulf and flying sorties over Iran, said Benjamin Neimark at the Queen Mary University of London.

From Barron's

The renewed sorties shattered a rare and unexplained lull that lasted 10 days, fueling speculation and uncertainty about Beijing’s intentions.

From The Wall Street Journal

Brigadier Guy Foden, a senior British Army officer, added that the UK had flown air combat patrols over Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, in addition to a "number of sorties" over Qatar.

From BBC

“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

Related Words

• raid