Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for bastille

bastille

[ ba-steel; French bas-tee-yuh ]

noun

, plural bas·tilles [ba-, steelz, b, a, s-, tee, -y, uh].
  1. (initial capital letter) a fortress in Paris, used as a prison, built in the 14th century and destroyed July 14, 1789.
  2. any prison or jail, especially one conducted in a tyrannical way.
  3. a fortified tower, as of a castle; a small fortress; citadel.


Bastille

/ bastij; bæˈstiːl /

noun

  1. a fortress in Paris, built in the 14th century: a prison until its destruction in 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


Bastille

  1. A prison in Paris where many political and other offenders were held and tortured until the time of the French Revolution . It was attacked by workers on July 14, 1789, during the revolution; the prisoners were released, and the building was later demolished.


Discover More

Notes

The anniversary of the attack, Bastille Day, is the most important national holiday in France .
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of bastille1

1350–1400; Middle English bastile < Middle French, probably alteration of bastide bastide, with -ile (< Medieval Latin, Latin -īle noun suffix of place) replacing -ide; replacing Middle English bastel < Old French basstel, with -el similarly replacing -ide
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of bastille1

C14: from Old French bastile fortress, from Old Provençal bastida , from bastir to build, of Germanic origin; see baste 1
Discover More

Example Sentences

With a fine (if unnoticed) stroke of irony, the bill was signed into law on Bastille Day, July 4.

Neither the Bastille nor the Beatles could inspire us to overhaul life itself.

The bloody effervescence of the Bastille gave way to Robespierre and then Napoleon; Stalin crushed Trotsky.

Witness a brown cardboard sign held high on Sunday night at the Bastille.

Anyone hoping to learn what Bastille Day is all about would do well to start here.

Father Griffet, a Jesuit, has communicated to the public the journal of the Bastille, which certifies the dates.

As for his age, he himself told the apothecary of the Bastille, a little before his death, that he believed he was about sixty.

For him the world, set spinning on a mad career when the Bastille fell, was moving too slowly again.

When he left the Bastille, he plotted with his willing mistress his revenge upon her father.

In 1698, M. de Saint Mars was made governor of the Bastille.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


bastideBastille Day