Masada

American  

[muh-sah-duh, muh-tsah-dah] / məˈsɑ də, mə tsɑˈdɑ /

noun

1. a mountaintop fortress in E Israel on the SW shore of the Dead Sea: site of Zealots' last stand against the Romans during revolt of a.d. 66–73.

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Masada British  

/ məˈsɑːdə /

noun

1. an ancient mountaintop fortress in Israel, 400 m (1300 ft) above the W shore of the Dead Sea: the last Jewish stronghold during a revolt in Judaea (66–73 _ad ). Besieged by the Romans for a year, almost all of the inhabitants killed themselves rather than surrender. The site is an Israeli national monument

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Example Sentences

My brother had his bar mitzvah at the mountaintop fortress of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea.

From Salon

He seems enamored of the myth of Masada, the ancient fortification in southern Israel, where, in the 1st century A.D., almost 1,000 rebels battled off Roman invaders.

From Slate

The problem, of course, is that the Jews lost the battle of Masada; the last holdout of rebels died by mass suicide rather than surrender.

From Slate

If anything, that weakness makes him more dangerous, especially as his options start to become more limited and he evokes the Masada, an ancient fortress where Jewish rebels made their last stand against the Roman Empire.

From New York Times

At 16, Mr. Kime was accepted to Oxford, but being too young to start at that age, he spent five months as a volunteer on the excavation of Masada, the ancient Jewish fortification overlooking the Dead Sea in Israel.

From New York Times