bulwark
Americannoun
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a wall of earth or other material built for defense; rampart.
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any protection against external danger, injury, or annoyance.
The new dam was a bulwark against future floods.
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any person or thing giving strong support or encouragement in time of need, danger, or doubt.
Religion was his bulwark.
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Nautical. Usually bulwarks. a solid wall enclosing the perimeter of a weather or main deck for the protection of persons or objects on deck.
verb (used with object)
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bulwarks,
present (3rd person singular)
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bulwarked,
past participle, past
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bulwarking
present participle
noun
-
a wall or similar structure used as a fortification; rampart
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a person or thing acting as a defence against injury, annoyance, etc
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(often plural) nautical a solid vertical fencelike structure along the outward sides of a deck
-
a breakwater or mole
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bulwarksimple
-
bulwarkssimple
-
have bulwarkedperfect
-
has bulwarkedperfect
-
am bulwarkingprogressive
-
are bulwarkingprogressive
-
is bulwarkingprogressive
-
have been bulwarkingperfect progressive
-
has been bulwarkingperfect progressive
Past
-
bulwarkedsimple
-
had bulwarkedperfect
-
was bulwarkingprogressive
-
were bulwarkingprogressive
-
had been bulwarkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bulwark
1375–1425; late Middle English bulwerk, probably < Middle Dutch bolwerc, equivalent to bol ( l ) e bole 1 + werk work (noun); cf. boulevard
Explanation
A bulwark is a wall built for protection or defense. If you and your pals build a secret fort for girls only, you might want to build a bulwark to surround it — with a "No Boys Allowed" sign posted prominently. A seawall that runs perpendicular to the shore is sometimes called a bulwark, because it defends the beach, not against invaders, but against beach erosion. Although the noun bulwark can refer to any fortified wall, it often specifically refers to an earthen wall, like a rampart. As a verb, bulwark means to fortify with a wall or to provide protection: "The volunteers used sandbags to bulwark the levee in an attempt to prevent the flooded river from overflowing its banks."
Vocabulary lists containing bulwark
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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:
They aren’t exciting, but they’re a decent bulwark against the kind of “exciting” we’ve been living through, with brief interruptions, for a decade now.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2026
“This might be a record here,” Hathaway tells the crowd near the end of the song, and so it was — a document of adaptation, a testament to borrowing, a bulwark against pretty fictions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Zinat-un-Nisa was a powerful political actor and an "extraordinarily influential and important political bulwark for her ageing and politically vulnerable" father toward the end of his life.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Because that’s obviously been a bulwark for you now, but I’ve known you for a while longer than that.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
So, surreptitiously, I took some of the biscuits from the platter and slipped them into my pocket, not to eat, but to keep as a bulwark against any possible attack of hunger.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
There will be raking, and pile-making, and paper sacks stuffed with leaves, arrayed along curbs like defensive bulwarks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Most of my life, the American right has had lots of bulwarks against that kind of racism and antisemitism—and militant, anti-democratic strains.
From Slate ● May 18, 2024
Forests could also be potential bulwarks against climate change.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2024
Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues ranging from Russia to North Korea.
From Washington Times ● May 21, 2023
I played my fifths and my scales, which, lapping gently upon the bulwarks of the ships we passed, drew sailors to the rails as we rowed on.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The valuations are bulwarked by new information from Cerebras’s pre-IPO filings with the SEC showing company revenue grew 76% between 2024 and 2025 to $510 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
Presidential blue-ribbon panels bulwarked the Social Security program in 1983 and overhauled NASA’s space shuttle program after the 1986 Challenger disaster.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 24, 2023
Even Einstein, the prototypical loner, was bulwarked by a vast correspondence of arguing and discussion.
From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2016
He didn't say that the British way is better, cleaner, more constitutionally bulwarked – because, actually, it isn't.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 28, 2010
But though Marshall's work has been superseded at many points, there is no fame among American statesmen more strongly bulwarked by great and still vital institutions.
From John Marshall and the Constitution; a chronicle of the Supreme court by Edward Samuel Corwin
The lesson wasn’t about which class of stocks is safer, but rather that diversification means not only bulwarking your portfolio against downturns but also enhancing your chances of long-term success.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
In addition to bulwarking security, many are bunkering from reporters who have descended on a normally sleepy community.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2023
On the DDoS front, the companies involved are doubtless bolstering their defenses, but bulwarking for brute force denial of service attacks is an ongoing process, and there’s no panacea.
From Time ● Aug. 25, 2014
In late 1938, dead-sure war was coming, Rosenstiel began bulwarking his company against war's impact.
From Time Magazine Archive
He left General Totten on the stairs, leaped down the remaining steps, and ran to a group of watchmen and night employees of the State House who were bulwarking the soldiers.
From All-Wool Morrison by Holman Day
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