Bastion
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A projecting part of a rampart or other fortification.
"[…] Fort Camosun had swelled herself from being a little Hudson's Bay Fort, inside a stockade with bastions at the corners, into being the little town of Victoria, and the capital of British Columbia."
- 2 projecting part of a rampart or other fortification wordnet
- 3 A well-fortified position; a stronghold or citadel.
- 4 a stronghold into which people could go for shelter during a battle wordnet
- 5 A person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle. figuratively
"a bastion of hope"
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- 6 a group that defends a principle wordnet
- 7 Any large prominence; something that resembles a bastion in size and form.
"[…] yonder cloud That rises upward always higher, And onward drags a labouring breast, And topples round the dreary west, A looming bastion fringed with fire."
- 1 To furnish with a bastion. transitive
Example
More examples"Thanks to Facebook, stalking is no longer the bastion of a few devoted enthusiasts, but a highly automated task convenient enough even for the busy housewife."
Etymology
First attested in 1562. From French bastion, from Old French bastille (“fortress”).
Related phrases
More for "bastion"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.