1
: a sudden issuing of troops from a defensive position against the enemy
2
: one mission or attack by a single plane
3
b
: excursion, expedition
diving sorties
sortie
intransitive verb
sortied; sortieing
Examples of sortie in a Sentence
an occasional sortie to the city to rummage through some of its numerous used-book stores
Recent Examples on the Web
Cochrane flew two sorties, one with Ben and Michael, another with Ray and Ben’s father.
—
Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025
Prickly concedes that getting video of a hit often requires a second sortie, sometimes three or four.
—Tamar Jacoby, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Chinese air force sorties may encroach farther on Taiwan’s territorial airspace, and ships may close in on the island’s territorial seas, raising the risk of collisions or misperceptions of Chinese intent among Taiwan’s defenders.
—Joel Wuthnow, Foreign Affairs, 12 Sep. 2025
China has, in recent years, been ratcheting up pressure on Taiwan through near-daily sorties across the midline of the strait and large-scale military exercises aiming to punish the Beijing-skeptic Democratic Progressive Party government in Taipei.
—Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sortie
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025
Prickly concedes that getting video of a hit often requires a second sortie, sometimes three or four.
—Tamar Jacoby, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
Chinese air force sorties may encroach farther on Taiwan’s territorial airspace, and ships may close in on the island’s territorial seas, raising the risk of collisions or misperceptions of Chinese intent among Taiwan’s defenders.
—Joel Wuthnow, Foreign Affairs, 12 Sep. 2025
China has, in recent years, been ratcheting up pressure on Taiwan through near-daily sorties across the midline of the strait and large-scale military exercises aiming to punish the Beijing-skeptic Democratic Progressive Party government in Taipei.
—Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sortie
Cite this Entry
“Sortie.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sortie. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share