mission vs sortie

mission

noun
  • A set of tasks that fulfills a purpose or duty; an assignment set by an employer, or by oneself. 

  • Religious evangelism. 

  • An infrequent gathering of religious believers in a parish, usually part of a larger regional event with a central theme. 

  • A number of people appointed to perform any service; a delegation; an embassy. 

  • A settlement or building serving as a base for missionary work. 

  • Third World charities, particularly those which preach as well as provide aid. 

verb
  • To do missionary work, proselytize. 

  • To send on a mission. 

sortie

noun
  • An act of venturing out to do a task, etc. 

  • An operational flight carried out by a spacecraft involving a return to Earth. 

  • An operational flight carried out by a single military aircraft. 

  • An attack made by troops from a besieged position; a sally. 

  • An act of trying to enter a new field of activity. 

  • An attacking move. 

  • Synonym of sally port (“an entry to or opening into a fortification to enable a sally”) 

  • A series of aerial photographs taken during the flight of an aircraft; (by extension) a photography session. 

verb
  • To carry out a sortie; to sally. 

How often have the words mission and sortie occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )