stockade

American  

[sto-keyd] / stɒˈkeɪd /

noun

1. Fortification. a defensive barrier consisting of strong posts or timbers fixed upright in the ground.

2. an enclosure or pen made with posts and stakes.

3. U.S. Military. a prison for military personnel.

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verb (used with object)

stockaded, stockading

1. to protect, fortify, or encompass with a stockade.

stockade British  

/ stɒˈkeɪd /

noun

1. an enclosure or barrier of stakes and timbers

2. a military prison or detention area

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verb

1. (tr) to surround with a stockade

Etymology

Origin of stockade

1605–15; < Middle French estocade, variant of estacade < Spanish estacada. See stake ¹, -ade ¹

Example Sentences

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

Most of us do not want to see an ex-president pilloried or put in the stockade, literally or metaphorically.

From Salon • Jun. 6, 2024

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

Some hours having passed, we were cautioned again to remain silent; and we found ourselves filing into a stockade in a broad marsh.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson