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

Ruins could be seen all around them, as in those of the 13th-century Crusader fortress of Montfort they had visited on a class expedition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

In the meantime, the tower's 400,000-euro outdoor LED screen has been turned off for months after online memes re-imagined it as the baleful eye of Sauron's fortress of Barad-dur from "The Lord of the Rings".

From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026

Minutes earlier, the players paraded around Azteca Stadium — traditionally an impenetrable fortress — to applaud El Tri fans with tears in their eyes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026

The altitude has helped turn the Azteca into a fortress for El Tri, which has lost just two competitive matches there since the stadium opened in 1966—and none in the past decade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026

Yet ahead to the south in the Weddell Sea, brilliant blue icebergs shone in the polar sun like the walls and ramparts of a fortress.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

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

To love a Scorpio, then, is to fiercely protect their softness with the same shadowy ardor that they use to construct their inner adamantine fortresses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2024

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

Old fortresses, adobe-walled and crumbling, topped the crags.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini

Related Words

• barrier
• citadel
• garrison
• rampart