bastion

[bas-chuh n, -tee-uh n] /ˈbæs tʃən, -ti ən/
noun
1.
Fortification. a projecting portion of a rampart or fortification that forms an irregular pentagon attached at the base to the main work.
2.
a fortified place.
3.
anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc.:
a bastion of solitude; a bastion of democracy.
Origin
1590-1600; < Middle French < Italian bastione, equivalent to Upper Italian bastí(a) bastion, orig., fortified, built (cognate with Italian bastita, past participle of bastire to build < Germanic; see baste1) + -one augmentative suffix
Related forms
bastionary
[bas-chuh-ner-ee] /ˈbæs tʃəˌnɛr i/ (Show IPA), adjective
bastioned, adjective
Synonyms
2. fortress, fort, bulwark, stronghold, citadel.
Examples from the web for bastion
  • It consisted of a fortified town and a defensive bastion.
  • Hollywood has long been considered a bastion of liberal activism.
  • America's nutritional tsunami is rolling into the nation's last bastion of guilt-free gluttony: the pizza parlor.
  • Libraries, which were once the bastion of hardcovers, now prefer trade paper.
  • Research released Friday removes a last bastion of scientific doubt about global warming.
  • Palm Beach is a bastion of the nouveaux riches, formerly a term of insult but currently one of high style.
  • This sparsely populated area was considered the animal's last bastion of survival.
  • Traditional broadcast radio, the last bastion of analog entertainment technology, sees a bright future for itself.
  • Organized labor has traditionally been a bastion of support for Democrats.
  • We pushed off into a bastion of deceptive calm, lulled by the swish of the oars, caressed by the slog of benevolent brown water.
British Dictionary definitions for bastion

bastion

/ˈbæstɪən/
noun
1.
a projecting work in a fortification designed to permit fire to the flanks along the face of the wall
2.
any fortified place
3.
a thing or person regarded as upholding or defending an attitude, principle, etc: the last bastion of opposition
Word Origin
C16: from French, from earlier bastillon bastion, from bastilleBastille
Word Origin and History for bastion
n.

1560s, from Middle French bastillon, diminutive of Old French bastille "fortress, tower, fortified, building," from Old Provençal bastir "build," perhaps originally "make with bast" (see baste (v.1)).