fort

noun

ˈfȯrt 

1

: a strong or fortified place

especially : a fortified place occupied only by troops and surrounded with such works as a ditch, rampart, and parapet : fortification

2

: a permanent army post

—often used in place names

Synonyms of fort

• fortress
• stronghold
• fortification
• citadel
• castle
• bastion

Examples of fort in a Sentence

They captured the fort after a long battle.

a series of forts along the frontier

Recent Examples on the Web

Flanked by the Welsh border and sprinkled with quaint villages and ancient forts, Shropshire’s hills are a wonderful place for a serendipitous stroll. —James March, Travel + Leisure, 1 Dec. 2025

The landscape also offers up eighteenth-century farmhouses, lairds’ castles, Norse churches, Iron Age forts, and Bronze Age barrows alongside the Neolithic tombs, settlements, and standing stones—thousands of sites altogether, across twenty-odd inhabited islands. —Alex Ross, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025

Even parks created around historic homes, forts, ships, factories, mines or a Cold War missile site tend to be set in some of the Bay Area’s most scenic locations. —Martha Ross, Mercury News, 22 Nov. 2025

From there, the Natick defense held the fort. —Matt Roy, Boston Herald, 22 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English forte, from Anglo-French fort, from fort, adjective, strong, from Latin fortis

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing fort

• hold down the fort
• hold the fort

Rhymes for fort

• bort
• corte
• court
• dort
• mort
• norte
• ort
• port
• porte
• quart
• short
• snort

Kids Definition

fort

noun

ˈfō(ə)rt 

ˈfȯ(ə)rt

1

: a strong or fortified place

2

: a permanent army post