fastness
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈfæstnəs/
- Archaic
:
fortaleza
- Unable to attack them in their mountain fastness, the king and his war band pillaged the great sanctuary, seizing all volumes of lore and learning, intending to possess these secrets.
- mountain fastness
- remote fastness
Examples
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The ancient castle served as a fastness against enemy attacks for centuries.
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Surviving the slaughter at Badon, Cerdic returned to the marshy coastal fastness of Hampshire.
Blog text (15) -
This fastness lay beneath a building that had been constructed with nuclear attack in mind.
Academic text (2004) -
It was a fastness beyond assault.
Fiction book (1993) -
When he has time, on weekends, De Ville continues his trips into the interior fastness of valleys and rivers.
Fiction book (2000) -
Chechens were Tartars, a western tide of the Golden Horde that had settled in the fastness of the Caucasus Mountains.
Fiction book (1992) -
The presence of police cars and barred windows seems incongruous in this rural fastness—what sort of crime can happen here?
Fiction book (2002) -
Ten years before Columbus discovered America, there dwelt within the rocky fastness of the cathedral a creature whom the Parisians of that day knew as "the Hunchback of Notre Dame"-
-
The villagers sought refuge in their mountain fastness during the invasion.
-
Hidden in the fastness of the woods, the group was safe from outsiders.
Synonyms
64
5.5
A protected place, often a castle, where people defend themselves from attack
51
7.7
A strong fortress near a city where people shelter during war
9
6.6
A wall or earth mound built to protect a place from attack
1
7.0
A place that soldiers defend strongly to stop enemy attacks
A protected place where people hide to be safe from attack
Antonyms
How Fortified
Surface Forms
Morphology
fastness = fast (semi-transparent) = fast + ness
Etymologically derived from 'fast' + '-ness' meaning a secure place, but the sense 'stronghold/fortress' is a specialized and somewhat archaic extension that many learners may not infer from the base.
Etymology
The word fastness also grew to mean a strong, secure place because it originally meant 'a place that is fast' or 'secure'. So a fastness is a safe stronghold or refuge, like a mountain castle that protects people during an attack.