fortress
Syllables: for·tressUK/ˈfɔː.tɹəs//ˈfoɹ.tɹɪs/
fortress noun: a fortified place; a large and permanent fortification, sometimes including a town; for example a fort, a castle; a stronghold; a place of defense or security.
Noun
fortress (plural fortresses)
- A fortified place; a large and permanent fortification, sometimes including a town; for example a fort, a castle; a stronghold; a place of defense or security.
- Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160
- A position that, if obtained by the weaker side, will prevent penetration by the opposing side, generally achieving a draw.
Verb
fortress (third-person singular simple present fortresses, present participle fortressing, simple past and past participle fortressed)
fortress meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
fortress in Hindi
- fortified place
- गढ़ी gaṛhī, क़िला qilā, दुर्ग durg
fortress in Tamil
- fortified place
- கோட்டை kōṭṭai
fortress in Marathi
- fortress
- पूर pūr
fortress in Urdu
- fortified place
- قِلْعَہ qil'a, قَلْعَہ qal'a
More languagesFewer languages
- fortress in Bengali
- দুর্গ durgo, কেল্লা kella, কোট kōṭ
- fortress in Malayalam
- കോട് kōṭŭ
- fortress in Kannada
- ಕೋಟೆ, ಕೊಂಚೆ
- fortress in Punjabi
- ਕਿਲ੍ਹੇਬੰਦੀ
- fortress in Sanskrit
- पुरा purā, दुर्ग durga, पुरी purī
- fortress in Pashto
- قلعه qal'á
- fortress in Arabic
- قَلْعَة qalʕa, حِصْن ḥiṣn
- fortress in Malay
- kubu, benteng
- fortress in Thai
- ป้อม bpɔ̂m, ปราการ bpraa-gaan
- fortress in Vietnamese
- pháo đài
- fortress in Myanmar
- ခံမြို့ hkammrui., ခံတပ် hkamtap
- Dzongkha
- རྫོང rdzong
Examples of fortress in a sentence
- They had to build up their fortress to protect against attack.
- The fortress is impenetrable, so it cannot be taken.
- The evil alien pointed a death ray at me and ordered me to start marching toward the distant fortress!
Synonyms of fortress
Forms of fortress
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fortresses |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fortresses |
| present participle | fortressing |
| past participle | fortressed |
| past | fortressed |
Origin of fortress
Early 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece (“strong place, fortification”), variant of fortelesse, from Medieval Latin fortalitia, from Latin fortis (“strong”) (see fort) + -itia, added to adjectives to form nouns of quality or condition. French -ess, from Latin -itia is also in words such as duress, prowess, largesse and richesse. For change of medial -l- to -r- in Old French, compare orne (“elm”) from ulmus; chartre from cartula and chapitre from capitulum. First attested in the 12th century.
Words formed from fortress
Phrases with fortress
Questions about fortress
- What does fortress mean?
- Fortress means a fortified place; a large and permanent fortification, sometimes including a town; for example a fort, a castle; a stronghold; a place of defense or security.
- What is fortress in Hindi?
- Fortress in Hindi is गढ़ी (gaṛhī), क़िला (qilā), दुर्ग (durg). See Fortress meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is fortress?
- Fortress can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce fortress?
- Fortress is pronounced /ˈfoɹ.tɹɪs/ (US).
- What is the plural of fortress?
- The plural of fortress is fortresses.
Words near fortress in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fortress (page history and authors); पूर (Marathi) (page history and authors); കോട് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); fortress (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); fortress (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-us-fortress.ogg.
Cite this entry: “fortress.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fortress. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.