rampart
Americannoun
-
ramparts
plural
-
Fortification.
-
a broad elevation or mound of earth raised as a fortification around a place and usually capped with a stone or earth parapet.
-
such an elevation together with the parapet.
-
-
anything serving as a bulwark or defense.
- Synonyms:
- guard, barricade, breastwork, fortification
verb (used with object)
-
ramparts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ramparted,
past participle, past
-
ramparting
present participle
noun
-
the surrounding embankment of a fort, often including any walls, parapets, walks, etc, that are built on the bank
-
anything resembling a rampart in form or function, esp in being a defence or bulwark
-
a steep rock wall in a river gorge
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rampartsimple
-
rampartssimple
-
have rampartedperfect
-
has rampartedperfect
-
am rampartingprogressive
-
are rampartingprogressive
-
is rampartingprogressive
-
have been rampartingperfect progressive
-
has been rampartingperfect progressive
Past
-
rampartedsimple
-
had rampartedperfect
-
was rampartingprogressive
-
were rampartingprogressive
-
had been rampartingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rampart
1575–85; < Middle French, derivative of remparer, equivalent to re- re- + emparer to take possession of < Provençal amparar ≪ Latin ante- ante- + parāre to prepare
Explanation
If you are building a sand castle and want it to be extra realistic, don’t forget the rampart. This protective wall may not keep the ocean away, but it might intimidate a few hostile hermit crabs. This noun is derived from the French verb remparer, meaning “to fortify,” and dates back to the 16th century. This usually refers to a large defensive wall surrounding a castle, but can be a barrier built along a road or an embankment constructed alongside a river. This word is famously used in the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner," the national anthem of the United States: “O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming...”
Vocabulary lists containing rampart
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The Star-Spangled Banner
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"The Cask of Amontillado"
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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.
See Examples For:
Its towering, mostly unbroken face and narrow swimming pool suggested a rampart and a moat, but behind the concrete exterior, Caland eliminated every door save the guest bathroom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
Mr Ambekar says that portions of an earthen rampart believed to have been built by the region's first settlers exists even today.
From BBC ● May 5, 2025
Up close, the structure, which will cost as much as $40 million, looks less like a dune and more like a rampart.
From New York Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
More than just a simple barrier, Hadrian’s Wall was a cleverly designed military rampart manned by 20,000 troops.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2018
A thick stone parapet protected the outer edge of the rampart, reaching as high as Sansa's chin, with crenella- tions cut into it every five feet for archers.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
The 75-year-old leader made the announcement while speaking from the ramparts of New Delhi's imposing 17th-century Red Fort to mark the country's independence from Britain on August 15, 1947.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
This laid-back, cafe-laden ledge is located above the beaches and ancient ramparts where the Douro River pours through its last, lovely tributaries into the Atlantic Ocean.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
That same year, with his painstaking production of The Beach Boys’ blockbuster single “Good Vibrations,” Wilson seemed poised to explore even greater musical ramparts.
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2025
“We wanted to be outsiders on the ramparts picking off the big shots,” Carter writes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2025
This soon became clear when a platoon of otters on the ramparts unloosed a rattling fusillade of heavy pebbles.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
We visited rambling, ramparted castles like the massive Llansteffan, framed by cerulean skies overlooking the sea, and we walked through landscapes where thick hedgerows line country lanes.
From New York Times ● Mar. 20, 2014
The old Radical ghosts go by, more real than the living men, to assault I know not what ramparted city in hell.
From Alarms and Discursions by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
No passer-by would have guessed that the three partners were ensconced in the black mouth of the tunnel, ramparted by the dump heap, watching for developments they were fairly sure would start with darkness.
From Rimrock Trail by Joseph Allan Dunn
That is why all the theological heavens are sublimely ramparted against attack.
From The Critical Game by John Albert Macy
Youth is a fool; the young Titans cannot scale heaven,—heaven, that, if what I live through be true, is ramparted round with tyrant lies!
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 11, No. 67, May, 1863 by Various
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.
