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

Just like the search and rescue team in the disaster zone, the three-member Deployment Support Team in Pacoima was on duty 24 hours a day throughout the rescue mission. — Seamus Bozeman follow, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2026

Search and rescue mission The setup successfully kept the roaches active inside submerged test tubes for several minutes. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 6 July 2026

But part of the reason for launching a rescue mission to Swift is simply to see if it can be done. — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 6 July 2026

As the planes touched down, the commandos launched their rescue mission. — Anne Neuberger, The Atlantic, 3 July 2026

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