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Definition of "sortie" [sor•tie]

  • An armed attack, especially one made from a place surrounded by enemy forces. (noun)
  • A flight of a combat aircraft on a mission. (noun)
  • To go on a sortie. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "sortie" in a sentence
  • "For the military, the cost of a sortie is critical."
  • "This plan, which came to be called a sortie, involved the maximum number of tanks, equipped with the Rhino device, that could be brought into position, allowing for the variation of the terrain."
  • "The object of the sortie was a vague idea to push forward, if possible, to Versailles."