rescue mission

noun

plural rescue missions

1

: a city religious mission (see mission entry 1 sense 4a) providing social and spiritual assistance to the poor and needy

The nonprofit, Christian-based rescue mission has provided a variety of social services to the poor and homeless over its 55-year history.

—Janet Lavelle

also : the premises of a rescue mission

I used to go quite often to Charleston, West Virginia to speak in the old rescue mission …

—Lee Roberson

2

: an undertaking to rescue someone or something from a dangerous or difficult situation

They kept him alive that way for more than twenty-four hours, waiting for a helicopter rescue mission that came too late.

—Jamie James

After a 12-hour rescue mission, navy personnel were able to tow the animal safely to land.

—Brigit Katz

Examples of rescue mission in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But, when a colony on LV-426 — the planet Ripley first found the xenomorph on — goes dark, she gets roped into joining a crack team of marines to mount a rescue mission. —Ian Stokes, Space.com, 26 Nov. 2025

Jim Hopper Hopper (David Harbour) is back from his hostage situation in Soviet Russia, and reunited with Eleven, thanks to a rescue mission led by Joyce. —Jennifer Maas, Variety, 26 Nov. 2025

Handling fast-moving objects safely and accurately is essential in warehouses, sports training, rescue missions, prosthetics, and even space robotics. —Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Nov. 2025

There are opportunities for people to volunteer with meal service with different shifts at the rescue mission’s men’s and women’s campuses. —Andy Humbles, Nashville Tennessean, 21 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1879, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for rescue mission

• abolition
• acquisition
• admonition
• ammunition
• apparition
• apposition
• coalition
• competition
• composition
• definition
• deglutition
• demolition