bastion
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
baschuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈbæstʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
figuratively
A person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle.
A well-fortified position; a stronghold or citadel.
architecture
Projecting part of a rampart or other fortification
Any large prominence; something that resembles a bastion in size and form.
verb
transitive
To furnish with a bastion.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle.
Used this way, bastion is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in ethics or values contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Ethics/values
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use bastion
- “A bastion against corruption.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.