stockade
Americannoun
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Fortification. a defensive barrier consisting of strong posts or timbers fixed upright in the ground.
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an enclosure or pen made with posts and stakes.
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U.S. Military. a prison for military personnel.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an enclosure or barrier of stakes and timbers
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a military prison or detention area
verb
Other Word Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have stockadedperfect
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have been stockadingperfect progressive
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has stockadedperfect 3rd person singular
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is stockadingprogressive 3rd person singular
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are stockadingprogressive
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has been stockadingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am stockadingprogressive 1st person singular
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stockadingparticiple
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stockadessingular 3rd person
Past
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had stockadedperfect
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were stockadingprogressive plural
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had been stockadingperfect progressive
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was stockadingprogressive singular
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stockadedsimple
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stockadedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of stockade
1605–15; < Middle French estocade, variant of estacade < Spanish estacada. See stake 1, -ade 1
Explanation
A stockade is an enclosed pen used to herd cattle and other livestock. Stockades can also house people, in the sense of a penal camp. In both cases, the treatment tends to be on the rough side. Stockades are also built as a means of protection or defense. Fun fact: Did you know that one of the most famous stockades in America was the original Wall Street in New Amsterdam — that is, the protective wall of wooden stakes dug into the ground that separated the northernmost part of the Dutch settlement from Native American territory? Or at least it did until the Dutch, in need of firewood, chopped it down.
Vocabulary lists containing stockade
Beowulf
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
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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.
In the summer of 2008, Epstein began serving his sentence at the Palm Beach County stockade.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
“It was like you’d gone back into the stockade and you could shut the gate and get on with the work.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 5, 2025
He talked back to Naval superiors when he served during World War II and got tossed in the stockade.
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2023
Sr. recalls he started writing when he was in the stockade during the army.
From Salon • Dec. 2, 2022
There was a guard standing at the corner of the stockade, but he didn’t seem to be too alert.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
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.
