fortress

American  

[fawr-tris] / ˈfɔr trɪs /

noun

• fortresses
  plural

1. a large fortified place; a fort or group of forts, often including a town; citadel.

2. any place of exceptional security; stronghold.

---

fortress British  

/ ˈfɔːtrɪs /

noun

1. a large fort or fortified town

2. a place or source of refuge or support

---

verb

1. (tr) to protect with or as if with a fortress

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fortresses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fortress

1300–50; Middle English forteresse < Old French < Vulgar Latin *fortaricia (compare Medieval Latin fortalitia ), equivalent to Latin fort ( is ) strong + -ar-, formative of uncertain meaning +- icia -ice

Explanation

A fortress is a large building or complex of buildings used as a military stronghold. In a military sense, a fortress is often called a “fort." From its original sense of stronghold, the word fortress has stretched to include strongholds in a more figurative sense. Martin Luther used fortress to describe unfailing spiritual support when he wrote, “A mighty fortress is our God.” When someone has a hard time trusting others, you might say they have retreated to a "fortress of their own making."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fortress fortresses

Boasting Georgian and Victorian architecture and overlooked by the Medieval fortress Castle Rushen, concerns have been raised over a severe decline in the number shops in Castletown's centre.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

"A museum cannot be a fortress," Hollein says.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Cage plays Roy, a gifted con artist with obsessive-compulsive disorder whose tics, phobias and elaborate rituals have turned his immaculate home into a fortress against the world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

The Alcazaba, the complex's historic fortress and oldest section, was evacuated after the earthquake, while access to the Nasrid Palaces was suspended, it added.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

There were large brown boxes scattered throughout the fortress, and I had discovered that this was where the Humans kept their technology.

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth

The two studio lots also boast dozens of soundstages; century-old fortresses that would not be easily duplicated.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Two medieval fortresses face each other across the Narva River separating Estonia from Russia on Europe's eastern edge.

From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026

Begun in the 15th century, the 25,000-mile network undulated over the Andes and west coast of South America, replete with stone paths, rope bridges, staircases, fortresses, inns and warehouses to serve relays of royal runners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

This means researchers simply don't know what is buried in the sites, which are mainly mounds, fortresses, early roadside inns known as caravanserais and canal systems.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2024

Architecture, in those dark ages of theirs, was such a light-giving passion of the heart that men gave love-names to their fortresses.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• barrier
• citadel
• garrison
• rampart