bastion

[ bas-chuhn, -tee-uhn ]

noun

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.

bastion

/ 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

Other Words From

• bas·tion·ar·y [bas, -ch, uh, -ner-ee], adjective
• bastioned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bastion¹

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; baste ¹ ) + -one augmentative suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of bastion¹

C16: from French, from earlier bastillon bastion, from bastille Bastille

Example Sentences

Since launching in 2018, Parler’s leaders have framed the social network as one of the last bastions of free speech online, building a fan base of annoyed conservatives who argue they had been silenced everywhere else.

From Washington Post

Until very recently, the Atlanta area wasn’t a liberal bastion.

From FiveThirtyEight

This week Bentley, that bastion of British luxury, became the latest OEM to set a date for that happening—the year 2030.

From Ars Technica

Overnight, they morphed from bastions of leisure into pariahs of the sea, floating hotspots crammed with tourists, sick and well.

From ProPublica

The capital city, a liberal bastion, was so inundated by September that it had to cut off applications at 6,000.

From Washington Post

Are the Brogpas of Kashmir in India really the last bastion of purebred Aryans?

From The Daily Beast

The tweets linking to the National Review, that bastion of LGBT equality.

From The Daily Beast

But that was not to be, and Kansas will continue as a Republican bastion for the foreseeable future.

From The Daily Beast

Even in New York City, a place that touts itself as a progressive bastion, Sikhs have suffered a string of hate crimes.

From The Daily Beast

Until that equation tips, individual Republicans may break ranks on gay rights, but the party remains a countercultural bastion.

From The Daily Beast

It showed like a hollow bastion, filled with insurgent fire, flung up to heaven.

From Project Gutenberg

The principal bas-relief is a huge square panel, graven on the face of a rock bastion which immediately overhangs the stream.

From Project Gutenberg

You thought yourself well out of it, and were stopped by a bastion.

From Project Gutenberg

The massive wall which forms a corner of the green yard is a bastion of the city wall in the time of Edward IV.

From Project Gutenberg

For several hours they held a bastion, the possession of which was deemed highly important by both Turks and Christians.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bulwark
• citadel
• fortress
• mainstay
• stronghold