rampart

[ ram-pahrt, -pert ]

/ ˈræm pɑrt, -pərt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rampart ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

verb (used with object)

to furnish with or as if with a rampart.

Nearby words

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

SYNONYMS FOR rampart

2. fortification, breastwork, barricade, guard.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR rampart ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for rampart

The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days.
Rogue L.A. Cop’s Facebook Manifesto: ‘You Will Now Live the Life of Prey’|The Daily Beast|February 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
And, Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson as corrupt characters in, respectively, Safe House and Rampart.
Flick Picks: Denzel Washington as a Baddie, Rachel McAdams in ‘The Vow’|Ramin Setoodeh, Peter Travers|February 10, 2012|DAILY BEAST
In Rampart, Woody Harrelson plays a corrupt, violent LAPD officer.
Woody Harrelson on ‘Rampart’|Richard Rushfield|January 13, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story misstated the official release date of Rampart.
Woody Harrelson on ‘Rampart’|Richard Rushfield|January 13, 2012|DAILY BEAST

I first discovered Hitchens from the other side of the rampart.
Christopher Hitchens: A Young Contrarian Salutes Him|Max McGuinness|December 18, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The shivering sentinel quickens his step along the rampart, and the half-naked Indian folds his tattered blanket close around him.
The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada|Francis Parkman
He made the circuit of the rampart, pausing only when he came to the grinan of the Lady Edain.
By the Barrow River|Edmund Leamy
An alternative arrangement for strengthening the wall was an arched gallery built behind it under the rampart (fig. 9).
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6|Various
Behind us, over the wilderness of swamp and bog-timber, rose Smith's redoubt, with the Federal flag flaunting from the rampart.
Campaigns of a Non-Combatant,|George Alfred Townsend
Behind that rampart was the accustomed post at the onset of battle for the King and his body-guard.
Harold, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for rampart

rampart

/ (ˈræmpɑːt) /

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

Canadian a steep rock wall in a river gorge

verb

(tr) to provide with a rampart; fortify

Word Origin for rampart

C16: from Old French, from remparer, from re- + emparer to take possession of, from Old Provençal antparar, from Latin ante before + parāre to prepare

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rampart

rampart

"earthen elevation around a place for fortification," sometimes also including parapets, 1580s, from Middle French rempart, rampart, from remparer "to fortify," from re- "again" (see re-) + emparer "fortify, take possession of," from Old Provençal amparer, from Vulgar Latin *anteparare "prepare," properly "to make preparations beforehand," from Latin ante- "before" (see ante) + parare "prepare" (see pare). With excrescent -t in French, perhaps by influence of boulevart (see boulevard).