🛡️ A gun structure 🏰 A small tower

turret

12 7.2

A small tower on the corner of a building used for looking out

noun
/ˈtʌrɪt/

: torrecilla

As we climbed the stairs, we finally reached the turret overlooking the entire battlefield.

Examples

The turning leaves scraped against the shingles of the turret bedrooms and the eaves of the roof.

Fiction book (1993)
The ancient castle featured a beautifully designed turret that added to its historic charm.
- Yes, the other day, I was watching them from the turret of the castle.

Irma la Douce (1963)
"You can have the room with the turret for your very own.

Fiction book (1998)
Come with us to the turret.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
But she was still very glad that her room with the turret was nice, plain, ordinary white.

Fiction book (1998)
We've searched the castle from turret to dungeon.

Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979)
From the top of the turret, we had a breathtaking view of the kingdom below.

Synonyms

bartizan

vsturret

Archaic

1 9.9

A small tower that sticks out from a wall to watch for danger or help defend a building

is a small vertical tower at a corner not necessarily overhanging or defensive

Compounds

gun turret

Specialized

3 6.3

A part of a ship, plane, or vehicle that holds guns and turns to aim them

turret clock

8.1

A large clock with faces on different sides, usually in a tower

How Tall

spire

22 5.8

keep

8 8.6

tower

547 1.0

turret

12 7.2

parapet

8 7.2

Surface Forms

turret singular

turrets plural

Morphology

turret = tower (semi-transparent) = turr + et

Historically 'turret' is a diminutive of 'tower' (tower + -et); the meaning 'small tower' is recoverable but the form change and borrowed diminutive make the relation less obvious to learners.

Etymology

Turret comes from an old French word made from tour (tower) plus the small ending -ette, so it originally meant 'little tower'. That's why a turret is the small tower that sticks out from a castle or house.