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.

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fortress British  

/ ˈfɔːtrɪs /

noun

1. a large fort or fortified town

2. a place or source of refuge or support

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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

Parts of the Indian capital, Delhi, have been turned into a fortress, with tens of thousands of security forces deployed, as the influential Gen Z-led "cockroach" movement has called for a major protest on Saturday.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

The monument is a line of arches and pillars constructed to resemble the fortress gates of Negatapam - a town in India and the scene of fighting between British and French forces in the 1780s.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

From the street, it looks like a two-story fortress under construction, guarded by a crash-damaged chain link fence and a row of yellow-orange Caltrans barricades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 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

She stayed out of the living room, my fortress, and only ventured into the kitchen when she knew I wasn’t there.

From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia

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

Fish, the 34-year-old councilmember, happens to be a renter in a block-spanning “luxury” apartment complex: “One of those fortresses that everyone makes fun of.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025

The fortresses around the turquoise waters of Singapore’s only sand beaches are now abandoned, but a string of British officer’s barracks in the island’s lush interior have been put to new use.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025

Priests carried tabots into one of the fortresses in Gondar, where they will be kept until the end of the festivities.

From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2024

Nevertheless, in our own times Messer Niccolò Vitelli was seen to demolish two fortresses in Citta del Castello in order to hold that state.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

Related Words

• barrier
• citadel
• garrison
• rampart