star-shaped fortress
- noun
- /stɑr-ʃeɪpt ˈfɔrtərs/
- Specialized
:
fortaleza en forma de estrella
- The old city walls were reinforced with a massive star-shaped fortress to withstand artillery attacks.
Examples
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Dutch engineers built a star-shaped fortress to protect the vital harbor entrance.
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The museum contains detailed models of a star-shaped fortress used during the Renaissance.
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The star-shaped fortress was built in the 16th century.
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Many star-shaped fortresses can be found in Italy.
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The architect designed a stunning star-shaped fortress that could withstand sieges.
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Tourists were amazed by the ancient star-shaped fortress that dotted the Italian landscape.
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During our visit, we explored the ruins of a star-shaped fortress that was crucial in battle.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A strong defensive place with pointed walls that stick out like a star
A fort with triangular walls pointing outwards that form a star shape to protect it
A type of fortress design with many triangular outer walls that let defenders' guns cover each other
A fort with triangular walls that stick out so defenders can cover all sides
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is a straightforward composition of 'star-shaped' (having a star-like form) + 'fortress' (a fortified structure), so the overall meaning is directly inferable from the constituents. This literal, descriptive combination follows normal adjective+noun composition and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.
Etymology
Star-shaped fortress comes from forts built with walls that stick out in points like a star: the star-shaped part is the pointed walls and the fortress is the strong fort. Because each point could watch and protect the next one, the design gave better defense, so the name means a fort made to 'defend' against attack.