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bastion

bastion

27 7.5
A group that strongly defends certain ideas or values
  • noun
  • /ˈbæs.tʃən/
translation icon : bastión
  • Because whatever we say about the faults of America, it still has been the bastion of democracy.
  • the last bastion
  • a conservative bastion
  • bastions of privilege

I'm certain Texas, Florida, Virginia maybe will become the sort of last bastion of the free world.

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Examples

  • The nuclear family was promoted as the bastion of social order and stability.

    Academic text (2013)
  • We used to be something, a real bastion of higher learning.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • Consider Wisconsin, long a bastion of what some might call enlightened solid waste management.

    Academic text (1999)
  • And some conservatives still regard the 9th Circuit as a bastion of liberalism.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Of course, the United States has always fancied itself to be a bastion of free speech and unbridled expression.

    Academic text (2003)
  • It was a rich agricultural world which had long stood as a bastion of defiance.

  • Tolstoy colony was a bastion of peace and free expression in this grievous time of war.

  • Rome was the center and, say, New York, a bastion of materialism, corruption, and violence, was the periphery.

    Academic text (2003)
  • The city is a bastion of bureaucratic Islam, redolent of Rome in the seventeenth century.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The public sector also appears to be the last bastion of job security.

Synonyms

champion
vsbastion
156 3.7

A person who strongly supports a cause or another person

is a collective body that defends principles rather than an individual supporter
upholder
vsbastion
1 5.5

A person who supports a belief, cause, or tradition

is a collective that defends principles rather than a single maintainer

Antonyms

26 3.6

Leaving someone or something and not coming back

14 4.4

The act of taking a machine or system apart

Compounds

A strong place or thing that protects people from bad things

A fort with triangular walls that stick out so defenders can cover all sides

A place that keeps and shows important things from the past, like a museum

A place or person that protects and keeps important knowledge

demi-bastion
  • Archaic
9.9

A part of a fort wall that sticks out and has one front and one side for defence

full bastion
  • Archaic
9.9

A solid part of a fort at a corner, filled so the inside ground is level with the wall

half-bastion
  • Archaic
9.9

A part of a fort that juts out with one face and one side for defense

9.9

A curved part of a fort wall shaped like a half moon for defenders to fire on attackers

semi-circular bastion
  • Specialized
9.9

A curved wall shaped like a half circle that sticks out from a fort to protect it

A part of a fort filled with earth or stone to make it stronger against attack

How Strong

fortress
106 4.4
stronghold
64 5.5
bastion
27 7.5
outpost
110 6.0

Surface Forms

bastion singular
bastions plural

Etymology

Bastion comes from an old French verb bastir meaning 'to build', so think 'build'. A helpful way to remember the second meaning is to imagine an organization as a built fort for ideas, so a bastion of tradition is a place that protects and holds those values strong.