fortress

as in stronghold
a structure or place from which one can resist attack the boys built a snow fortress and then challenged the neighborhood kids to an in-your-face snowball fight

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fortress The Gothic fortress on West 23rd Street was once home to many of the twentieth century’s beautiful and damned—Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, and Sid Vicious among them. Ian Malone, Vogue, 13 Feb. 2025 But storybook fortresses aren’t exclusive to mythical kingdoms and romantic tales. Gulnaz Khan, AFAR Media, 13 Feb. 2025 There, guests can check out fortress ruins and visit the Basilica of Esztergom. Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 6 Feb. 2025 One of the most prominent rumors surrounding the over 575-year-old fortress has long been the existence of secret passageways beneath the grounds originally hinted at by Leonardo da Vinci. Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 16 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fortress
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fortress
Noun
  • Poilievre, however, maintains a stronghold in the Prairies and Alberta, where Conservative support remains dominant.
    Ross Rosenfeld, Newsweek, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Israel's military is also intensifying an offensive against a Palestinian militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank, deploying tanks there for the first time in more than two decades.
    Kat Lonsdorf, NPR, 23 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Its objective was not to retreat from the citadels of governance but to place them under siege.
    Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Dominated by the enormous Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon, and a citadel, which sits along the 2.5-mile-long Avenue of the Dead, the site awed even the Aztecs, who wondered what vanished civilization could have created such a monumental city.
    John Newton, AFAR Media, 24 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • Indeed, there are a variety of low-cost measures such as mines and fortifications that would help to make the conquest of Ukraine more difficult, and Ukraine’s own defense industrial base is well positioned to produce many of these domestically with Western support.
    Emma Ashford, Foreign Affairs, 18 Feb. 2025
  • The fortifications and trench lines here are a part of nearly 600-mile-long defensive system holding Russia back from the heartland of Ukraine.
    Brian Mann, NPR, 2 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The storybook castle was built more than 700 years ago by the knights of Chasteignier de la Roche-Posay.
    Sofia Celeste, WWD, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Eastern Europe Travelers are also showing more interest in Eastern Europe, especially Romania, Poland, and Hungary, where fairytale-esque towns and castles unfold.
    Kaitlyn McInnis, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Perhaps halfway up to the crest which forms the ramparts of the Mule Shoe was a jutting bastion of orange-colored rock.
    Frank C. Hibben, Outdoor Life, 27 Feb. 2025
  • But despite housing the fest for four decades, Utah isn’t a bastion of free speech, with the state being one of the first to implement a statewide ban for more than a dozen books in libraries and classrooms.
    Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • But after some years, the cesspool got bigger, and our fort got smaller, and eventually the cesspool must have looked inviting.
    Willy Staley, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Amid the rapid change in the 800 and 400 free events, now the fans await how long Katie Ledecky will hold her fort in the 1500.
    Paras J. Haji, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fortress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fortress. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on fortress

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!