fortress
Americannoun
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a large fortified place; a fort or group of forts, often including a town; citadel.
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any place of exceptional security; stronghold.
noun
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a large fort or fortified town
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a place or source of refuge or support
verb
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."
Vocabulary lists containing fortress
Stay Strong: Forc and Fort
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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Beowulf vocabulary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
New Fortress Energy was up 12% ahead of the bell, while Cheniere Energy shares increased by 3.3%.
From Barron's • Mar. 9, 2026
Scholastic also agreed to sell its primary distribution facility in Jefferson City, Missouri to Fortress Investment Group for $95 million.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 2, 2025
Jonathan Lethem, a MacArthur fellow, is the author of several novels, including “The Fortress of Solitude,” and “Motherless Brooklyn,” winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and several short story collections.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2025
The teaser opens with a shot of Corenswet’s Superman making a rough landing, somewhere in the Arctic that isn’t his presumably nearby Fortress of Solitude.
From Salon • Dec. 19, 2024
Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
