bastion
UK/ˈbæsti.ən/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈbastɪjən/
bastion noun: a projecting part of a rampart or other fortification.
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Noun
bastion (plural bastions)
- 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.1942, Emily Carr, “Beginnings”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC
- A well-fortified position; a stronghold or citadel.
- A person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle.
- a bastion of hope
- the bastion of democracy
- 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.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 24 - It spread slowly up from the sea-rim, a welling upwards of pure white light, ghosting the beach with silver and drawing the grey bastions of sandstone out of formless space.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 32
- […] yonder cloud
Verb
bastion (third-person singular simple present bastions, present participle bastioning, simple past and past participle bastioned)
- To furnish with a bastion.
bastion meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
bastion in Hindi
- bastion
- बुर्ज burj
bastion in Urdu
- bastion
- برج burj
bastion in Bengali
- bastion
- বুরজ buroj
bastion in Malayalam
- stronghold, bulwark, defender
- കൊത്തളം, കൊന്തളം, കോട്ട, കൊമ്മ, ദുർഗ്ഗം, ശക്തികേന്ദ്രം
- outwork, projection, breastwork
- കൊത്തളം, അട്ടം, മതിൽപ്പുരത്തുള്ള മേട, ഉപതല്പം, പ്രലംബഭാഗം, ജ്യാമിതിരൂപനിർമ്മാണം
More languagesFewer languages
- bastion in Kannada
- ಕೊತ್ತಳ, ಕೊತ್ತಣ, ಕೊತ್ತಲ, ಕೊತ್ತಲು
- bastion in Punjabi
- برج burj, ਬੁਰਜ burj
Examples of bastion in a sentence
- William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
- The village shop seemed to be a bastion of respectability but those in the know could obtain some very questionable under-the-counter material.
- When they hit cruisers, they use hangar spam to mow down corvettes and bastions.
Forms of bastion
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bastions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bastions |
| present participle | bastioning |
| past participle | bastioned |
| past | bastioned |
Origin of bastion
First attested in 1562. From French bastion, from Old French bastille (“fortress”).
Words formed from bastion
Phrases with bastion
Questions about bastion
- What does bastion mean?
- Bastion means a projecting part of a rampart or other fortification.
- What is bastion in Hindi?
- Bastion in Hindi is बुर्ज (burj). See Bastion meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is bastion?
- Bastion can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce bastion?
- Bastion is pronounced /ˈbæsti.ən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of bastion?
- The plural of bastion is bastions.
Words near bastion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bastion (page history and authors); बुर्ज (Hindi) (page history and authors); برج (Urdu) (page history and authors); বুরজ (Bengali) (page history and authors); bastion (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); bastion (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); برج (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-bastion.ogg, en-us-bastion.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bastion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bastion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.