Amer. Scientist
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Bastion is related to bastille (a word now used as a general term for a prison, but probably best known as the name of the Parisian fortress-turned-prison stormed by an angry mob at the start of the French Revolution). It comes from the Italian verb bastire, which means "to build."
Synonyms
Examples of bastion in a Sentence
Fidel Martinez, Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2024
The wall is built into the hillside, the researchers said, and likely served as a bastion, a portion of wall surrounding a castle to protect the fortress from attack.
—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2024
Located inland only a half-hour drive southwest from the island's capital, Palma, the Castell is a bastion of calm and old-world Spanish taste.
—Tony Perrottet, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Mar. 2024
Even in the troll-heavy TikTok landscape, Abbey’s comments section is by and large supportive, a bastion of positivity.
—Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2024
Though the city was an isis bastion, there were many residents, especially poor ones, who opposed the group but lacked the resources to escape.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
Its leaders are outspoken about their belief that Hacienda is not a real estate venture but a social cause: a bastion of inclusion, even a model for bucking American prudishness.
—Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2024
The 49ers — based in the liberal bastion of San Francisco — strangely gained a following among the MAGA crowd as a result.
—Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times, 13 Feb. 2024
Mention Belmopan, Belize’s capital that sits deep in the country’s interior, and many Belizeans will belittle the city as a bastion of pencil-pushing bureaucrats that’s not just dull, but also devoid of nightlife.
—Simon Romero Alejandro Cegarra, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bastion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
borrowed from Middle French, borrowed from Italian bastione, from bastia "small quadrangular fortress" (from an Upper Italian counterpart to Tuscan bastita, from feminine past participle of bastire "to build," probably borrowed from Old Occitan bastir "to weave, build," or its Gallo-Romance ancestor) + -one, augmentative suffix (going back to Latin -ō, -ōn-, suffix of nouns denoting persons with a prominent feature) — more at bastille
1546, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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Cite this Entry
“Bastion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bastion. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
bastion
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on bastion
Nglish: Translation of bastion for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of bastion for Arabic Speakers
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