bastion
[bas-chuh n, -tee-uh n]
- Fortification. a projecting portion of a rampart or fortification that forms an irregular pentagon attached at the base to the main work.
- a fortified place.
- anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc.: a bastion of solitude; a bastion of democracy.
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Origin of bastion
1590–1600; < Middle French < Italian bastione, equivalent to Upper Italian bastí(a) bastion, orig., fortified, built (cognate with Italian bastita, past participle of bastire to build < Germanic; see baste1) + -one augmentative suffix
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bastion on Thesaurus.com2. fortress, fort, bulwark, stronghold, citadel.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bastion
Contemporary Examples
The tweets linking to the National Review, that bastion of LGBT equality.
But that was not to be, and Kansas will continue as a Republican bastion for the foreseeable future.
Fairfax County, the most populous jurisdiction in the state, was once a Republican bastion.
Kentucky, a bastion of anti-government ire, is the top state for Obamacare enrollment.
Kaine could be boosted by his subcommittee, a bastion of support for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Historical Examples
We sat in a corner of the bastion, so that we could see everything on both sides.
A Hero of Our TimeM. Y. Lermontov
It was a flat mesa rising sharply as a sort of bastion from the rim-rock.
Oh, You Tex!William Macleod Raine
We go out by an entrance on to a bastion, flanking the gate.
At the Point of the BayonetG. A. Henty
Continuing along the bastion the limit of the northern wall is soon reached.
ExeterSidney Heath
Captain Neville, into the battery, and fire twenty rounds at the bastion!
White LiesCharles Reade
bastion
- a projecting work in a fortification designed to permit fire to the flanks along the face of the wall
- any fortified place
- a thing or person regarded as upholding or defending an attitude, principle, etcthe last bastion of opposition
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Word Origin
C16: from French, from earlier bastillon bastion, from bastille Bastille
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for bastion
n.
1560s, from Middle French bastillon, diminutive of Old French bastille "fortress, tower, fortified, building," from Old Provençal bastir "build," perhaps originally "make with bast" (see baste (v.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper