bastion

American  

[bas-chuhn, -tee-uhn] / ˈbæs tʃən, -ti ən /

noun

bastions plural

1. Fortification. a projecting portion of a rampart or fortification that forms an irregular pentagon attached at the base to the main work.

2. a fortified place.

   Synonyms:

   citadel, stronghold, bulwark, fort, fortress

3. anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc..

   a bastion of solitude; a bastion of democracy.

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bastion British  

/ ˈbæstɪən /

noun

1. a projecting work in a fortification designed to permit fire to the flanks along the face of the wall

2. any fortified place

3. a thing or person regarded as upholding or defending an attitude, principle, etc

   the last bastion of opposition

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bastionary
  adjective
• bastioned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bastions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bastion

1590–1600; < Middle French < Italian bastione, equivalent to Upper Italian bastí ( a ) bastion, originally, fortified, built (cognate with Italian bastita, past participle of bastire to build < Germanic; see baste ¹) + -one augmentative suffix

Explanation

When the battle is getting long and the odds are getting longer, retreat to your bastion to regroup and prepare for the next round of fighting. A bastion is a stronghold or fortification that remains intact. French Independence Day, or Bastille Day (July 14), commemorates the storming in 1789 of the French king's prison/fort, the Bastille. Bastion and Bastille share the root bast, which means "build." Bastion can refer to any place to which one turns for safety; that can include not only buildings but also concepts, ideas, and even beliefs. The Church, for example, is a bastion of many religious beliefs.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bastion bastions

The mass comes on day two of Pope Leo's seven-day visit to Spain, a traditional Catholic bastion where religious observance has been declining sharply in recent years as in much of western Europe.

From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026

This is Liverpool, the supposed bastion of stability.

From BBC ● May 30, 2026

Iran is no bastion of free expression, in other words, which anyone bopping to those raps about enacting revenge on “the Baal-worshipping Epstein crew” must remember.

From Salon ● Apr. 26, 2026

Juries are a fundamental bastion of democracy, and it’s beyond dangerous to allow powerful and wealthy corporations to shield themselves from ever having to face jurors’ judgment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026

For the moment, Chadwick’s scorn, sounding as it did from deep within the bastion of small science, rankled deeply.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

Leo's predecessor Francis largely overlooked many of Europe's traditional bastions of Catholicism where, like Spain, religious observance has been falling rapidly.

From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026

Tigers, so often the bastions of a physical, aggressive gameplan, have opened up, and a 13-year psychodrama that has seen almost 30 coaches come and go, might well be over too.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

With record-keeping fees under pressure, he said in an interview that managed accounts are “one of the last bastions of good revenue production,” adding that record-keepers “love” participants enrolling because “the revenue is much better.”

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 20, 2026

Rep. Marc Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, noting that Texas is far from becoming one of the country’s liberal bastions.

From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2026

Very strong it might be, wrought of steel and iron, and guarded with towers and bastions of indomitable stone, yet it was the key, the weakest point in all that high and impenetrable wall.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Related Words

• bulwark
• citadel
• fortress
• mainstay
• stronghold