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

The following day, a two-hour rescue mission ensued as the team attached a tracking buoy to the net around the whale’s tail in case the whale swam off before it was freed, rescuers said. —Paloma Chavez, Sacbee.com, 17 Apr. 2025

When Steve gets tangled up with the monstrous villains inhabiting Minecraft’s darkest corners, a group of treasure-hungry misfits ventures to the realm for a rescue mission. —David Sims, The Atlantic, 11 Apr. 2025

Whereas last season was a rescue mission, about reviving an underperforming team with intangibles, this one has demanded much more — positivity again, but with evolution and more substance, and despite plenty of difficulties. —Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025

June became hopeful that the American rescue mission would lead to a reunion with her daughter, but that was unsuccessful. —Abigail Lee, Variety, 8 Apr. 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