bastion

First attested in 1562. From French bastion, from Old French bastille (“fortress”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæsti.ən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbæsti.ən/, /ˈbæst͡ʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: Bastian

bastion (plural bastions)

1. (architecture) A projecting part of a rampart or other fortification.
   • 1942, Emily Carr, “Beginnings”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

     […] 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.

2. A well-fortified position; a stronghold or citadel.
3. (figuratively) A person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle.

   a bastion of hope

   the bastion of democracy

4. Any large prominence; something that resembles a bastion in size and form.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 24:

     […] 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.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 32:

     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.

• bastille

bastion (third-person singular simple present bastions, present participle bastioning, simple past and past participle bastioned)

1. (transitive) To furnish with a bastion.

• Bostian, obtains, stiboan

Via French bastion, from Italian bastione.

• IPA^(key): [baˈsdjoˀn]

bastion c (singular definite bastionen, plural indefinite bastioner)

1. (military, architecture) bastion
   1. (figurative) bastion (something or someone that resists a certain influence)

• “bastion” in Den Danske Ordbog

Borrowed from Middle French bastion.

• IPA^(key): /ˌbɑs.tiˈɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bas‧ti‧on
• Rhymes: -ɔn

bastion n (plural bastions, diminutive bastionnetje n)

1. bastion; a projecting part of a rampart

   Synonym: bolwerk

From German Bastion.

• IPA^(key): /ˈb̥ɑsʲtio̯n/, [ˈb̥ɑsʲtʲio̯n]
• Rhymes: -ɑsʲtion
• Hyphenation: bas‧tion

bastion (genitive bastioni, partitive bastioni or bastionit)

1. bastion (originally a semi-circular, later polygonal defensive building that protrudes from the main rampart of the fortress)

• bastion in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “bastion”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

Inherited from Middle French bastion, from Old French bastille (“fortress”) or Italian bastione. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. .

• IPA^(key): /bas.tjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

bastion m (plural bastions)

1. bastion
2. stronghold

• → Polish: bastion
• → Russian: бастион (bastion)
  • → Bulgarian: бастион (bastion)
  • → Georgian: ბასტიონი (basṭioni)

• “bastion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• snobait

From Italian bastione, via French bastion.

bastion m (definite singular bastionen, indefinite plural bastioner, definite plural bastionene)

1. a bastion (part of a fortification; also figurative)

• “bastion” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Italian bastione, via French bastion.

bastion m (definite singular bastionen, indefinite plural bastionar, definite plural bastionane)

1. a bastion (part of a fortification; also figurative)

• “bastion” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Borrowed from French bastion, from Old French bastille.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbas.tjɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -astjɔn
• Syllabification: bas‧tion

bastion m inan (diminutive bastionik)

1. (military) bastion, stronghold (place built to withstand attack)
2. (figuratively) bastion, stronghold (place of domination by, or refuge or survival of, a particular group or idea)

   Synonym: szaniec

3. (figuratively) bastion (person, group, or thing, that strongly defends some principle)

• bastion in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• bastion in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French bastion.

bastion n (plural bastioane)

1. stronghold

• IPA^(key): /bastǐoːn/

bastìōn m inan (Cyrillic spelling бастѝо̄н)

1. bastion

• “bastion”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

bastion c

1. bastion; a projecting part of a rampart