as in jail
a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody
were amazed by the squalid, cramped quarters in the town's historic bastille
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Recent Examples of bastille
For his part, Bowie celebrated the election by joining forces with John Barleycorn and evicting the residents of the local bastille.
—
Robert Kolarik, San Antonio Express-News, 23 Feb. 2018
In these wet, wooden bastilles in New York waters, more Americans died than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War combined.
—Benedict Cosgrove, Smithsonian, 13 Mar. 2017
Robert Kolarik, San Antonio Express-News, 23 Feb. 2018
In these wet, wooden bastilles in New York waters, more Americans died than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War combined.
—Benedict Cosgrove, Smithsonian, 13 Mar. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bastille
Noun
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The Sacramento Police Department initially arrested Hernandez Santana, before he was released from the jail hours later after posting a $200,000 bail bond.—
Rosalio Ahumada,
Sacbee.com,
7 Oct. 2025
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Rachel Fyall, associate professor at the University of Washington Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, said the cost of not housing people includes emergency room care, jail cells and police on the street.—
Ashley Hiruko,
ProPublica,
6 Oct. 2025
Noun
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In April 2022 the artist, real name Lontrell Williams, was sentenced to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to a gun conspiracy charge stemming from an October 2020 confrontation that left a man shot in the buttocks.—
Andre Gee,
Rolling Stone,
7 Oct. 2025
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He was found not guilty in one case and pleaded guilty in another; this past December, he was sentenced to twenty-three months in prison and five years of probation, although he was released from federal prison earlier this year.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Just up the way, the old penitentiary building is famously open for tours and purportedly haunted.—
Idaho Statesman,
Idaho Statesman,
6 Oct. 2025
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He was pronounced dead by lethal injection at 6:40 p.m. at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.—
Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
26 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Bastille.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bastille. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
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