Meaning & use
sortie
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Meanings
nouncountablemilitary
A short military attack or operation, especially by aircraft, launched from a defended position.
Grammar: Countable; plural sorties. A pilot flies or carries out a sortie.
Patterns
- fly a sortie
- carry out a sortie
- a bombing sortie
Each pilot flew two sorties a day during the campaign.
The helicopters carried out a sortie against enemy positions at dawn.
Enemy aircraft made a brief sortie over the harbor but caused little damage.
nouncountableinformal
A short trip away from your home, camp, or usual place, especially to get something or look around.
Grammar: Countable; an informal extension of the military sense, often used in a light or humorous way.
Patterns
- a sortie into town
- a quick sortie
- a sortie to the shops
We made a quick sortie to the supermarket before the storm arrived.
On his first sortie into the old city, he got hopelessly lost.
The reporters planned a sortie to the market at sunset.
Word forms
| plural | sorties |
|---|
Common combinations
- fly a sortie
- The crew flew a reconnaissance sortie at first light.
- carry out a sortie
- The navy carried out a sortie to protect the fishing boats.
- a brief sortie
- The soldiers made a brief sortie beyond the walls.
- a sortie into town
- We ventured a sortie into town to find a pharmacy.
Synonyms and how they differ
Commonly confused: sortie or sally?
sortie vs sally
A sally is a similar word for a sudden rush out from a defended place, and also means a witty remark.
Practice
The fighter jets carried out three ___ over the border region yesterday.
Choose one answer.
A plural countable noun is needed after 'three', so sorties is correct. Sortie is singular, while sorting and sorted are forms of the verb sort.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sortie”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.