redoubt
1 Americannoun
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Fortification.
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an isolated work forming a complete enclosure of any form, used to defend a prominent point.
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an independent earthwork built within a permanent fortification to reinforce it.
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any safe and secure place or situation; refuge; stronghold.
Lebanon has represented one of the last redoubts of Christianity in the Middle East.
noun
noun
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an outwork or detached fieldwork defending a pass, hilltop, etc
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a temporary defence work built inside a fortification as a last defensive position
Etymology
Origin of redoubt
First recorded in 1600–10; from French redoute, from Italian ridotto, from Late Latin reductus “a refuge,” noun use of past participle of Latin redūcere “to lead back”; see reduce
Explanation
A redoubt is a fort or retreat, like a temporary military shelter. Want to see a redoubt? Go to the US Military Academy at West Point where there are redoubts from the Revolutionary War. It’s also spelled "redout." Redoubts were often built around existing fortifications out of earth or stone to protect the most vulnerable soldiers outside the main area. Redoubt means "place of retreat," and a figurative redoubt might be the comfort you get from your group of friends or even your own certainty about the truth of your beliefs.
Vocabulary lists containing redoubt
This Week In Words: January 25–31, 2020
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The War of the Worlds
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
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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.
No hot line summons this super-cop from a hidden redoubt.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2025
King Charles III, Prince William and more than 1,500 soldiers welcomed Trump to Windsor Castle, the thousand-year-old redoubt of the British monarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025
In the words of Gulf scholar Paul Rich, this was "the Indian Empire's last redoubt, just as Goa was Portuguese India's last solitary vestige, or Pondicherry was the tag-end of French India".
From BBC • Jun. 21, 2025
Washington state could become its own time island, a sort of chronological redoubt.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 9, 2023
Her severity made the house a redoubt of old customs in a town convulsed by the vulgarity with which the outsiders squandered their easy fortunes.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
