Redoubt
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A small, temporary, military fortification.
- 2 The return of doubt. rare
"Undeterred by humble beginning, undaunted by frustrations imposed by others of lesser stature, undismayed by the doubts and redoubts of personal, political and elemental forces, he persevered, he pursued and he prevailed"
- 3 an entrenched stronghold or refuge wordnet
- 4 A reinforced refuge; a fort.
- 5 (military) a temporary or supplementary fortification; typically square or polygonal without flanking defenses wordnet
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- 6 A place of safety or refuge.
"2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text To the south, the vast geometrical deserts of Arabian nomads, a redoubt of feral movement, of fickle winds, of open space, of saddle leather—home to the wild Bedouin tribes."
- 1 To fortify, to make into a stronghold. transitive
"By the time that our troops had taken a little refreshment, a quantity of intrenching tools were brought a-shore, and the regiments were employed in redoubting our ground, and landing some cannon and ammunition."
- 2 To dread. archaic
- 3 To doubt again. rare
"Neither any of ſo many hundreds of expleaded, or nowe raigning hereſies, or any that ſhall ariſe hereafter, nor the Religion of Martine Luther so often profeſſed, and both priuately and publickly recanted, altered, changed, doubted, and redoubted by himſelfe, as his owne works and all proteſtants doe witneſſe..."
Example
More examples"Let them hole up in the redoubt -- our troops will pass right by."
Etymology
From French redoute, from Italian ridotta, from Medieval Latin reductus (“refuge”), from Latin redūcō (“I withdraw”), with spelling influenced by doubt.
From Old French redouter, from Latin dubitāre (“doubt”) prefixed with re-. The b was later added back in this word, and the related doubt and redoubtable, to reflect their Latin source.
From re- + doubt.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.