as in strongholds
a structure or place from which one can resist attack
the rebel army retreated to its bastion in the mountains to regroup
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Recent Examples of bastions
While many American cities are painted as bastions of murder, a new report has revealed that this is not actually the case.
—
Justin Klawans, TheWeek, 27 Jan. 2026
Wikipedia is one of the last bastions of the early internet, but that original vision of a free online space has been clouded by the dominance of Big Tech platforms and the rise of generative AI chatbots trained on content scraped from the web.
—Arkansas Online, 18 Jan. 2026
In her conversations with health officials around the country, Balfour has found that there is increasing backlash towards the growing number of people who are unhoused, even in liberal bastions such as San Francisco and Seattle.
—O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 2 Jan. 2026
After tenures at Atlanta bastions like Miller Union, pastry chef Claudia Martinez is now taking the driver’s seat with a star-studded crew behind her.
—Su-Jit Lin, Southern Living, 17 Dec. 2025
While rural areas remain conservative bastions, farmers’ patience with Washington is wearing thin.
—Josh Funk, Fortune, 12 Dec. 2025
Shrinking freedoms Institutions like Delhi University have long been celebrated as bastions of free speech and secular thought.
—Esha Mitra, CNN Money, 16 Nov. 2025
The leaders’ reluctance came after last year’s election saw Republicans make notable gains in reliably blue bastions like New Jersey and New York, with some in the party blaming the shift on polarizing social issues embraced by the left.
—Caroline Vakil, The Hill, 5 Nov. 2025
Two men who represent two different bastions of power — God and country — in Oklahoma are making sermons of a kind.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
Justin Klawans, TheWeek, 27 Jan. 2026
Wikipedia is one of the last bastions of the early internet, but that original vision of a free online space has been clouded by the dominance of Big Tech platforms and the rise of generative AI chatbots trained on content scraped from the web.
—Arkansas Online, 18 Jan. 2026
In her conversations with health officials around the country, Balfour has found that there is increasing backlash towards the growing number of people who are unhoused, even in liberal bastions such as San Francisco and Seattle.
—O. Rose Broderick, STAT, 2 Jan. 2026
After tenures at Atlanta bastions like Miller Union, pastry chef Claudia Martinez is now taking the driver’s seat with a star-studded crew behind her.
—Su-Jit Lin, Southern Living, 17 Dec. 2025
While rural areas remain conservative bastions, farmers’ patience with Washington is wearing thin.
—Josh Funk, Fortune, 12 Dec. 2025
Shrinking freedoms Institutions like Delhi University have long been celebrated as bastions of free speech and secular thought.
—Esha Mitra, CNN Money, 16 Nov. 2025
The leaders’ reluctance came after last year’s election saw Republicans make notable gains in reliably blue bastions like New Jersey and New York, with some in the party blaming the shift on polarizing social issues embraced by the left.
—Caroline Vakil, The Hill, 5 Nov. 2025
Two men who represent two different bastions of power — God and country — in Oklahoma are making sermons of a kind.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bastions
Noun
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Marquis said some of the most stunning protest growth has happened in areas such as Surprise, Glendale, Anthem and Peoria, traditional conservative strongholds.—
Taylor Seely,
AZCentral.com,
10 Feb. 2026
-
The majority of these clients use clinics in California, one of the strongholds of the forty-two-billion-dollar global fertility industry.—
Ava Kofman,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Meanwhile, history buffs will love exploring the island’s capital via colorful Spanish-colonial architecture and imposing, ancient fortresses like La Fortaleza and El Morro.—
Brittany Chang,
Condé Nast Traveler,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Collective investments in resilience are cheaper than everyone building their own fortresses.—
Haley Ott,
CBS News,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Some are outfitted with dozens of pounds of explosives to self-destruct near fortifications or bridges.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
29 Jan. 2026
-
Passmore’s magisterial, revisionist account of the Maginot Line—the network of French fortifications built in the 1920s and 1930s to stop a German invasion—challenges the conventional understanding of its role in World War II.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Dec. 2025
Noun
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The story is a bit murkier than Manichaean talk of stormers and citadels.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
6 Oct. 2025
-
Intelsat’s leadership rapidly green-lighted the campaign to set up internet citadels.—
Kevin Holden Platt,
Forbes.com,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Later venturing into other legacy brands like Ebony and Jet, Dubois Barnett developed the idea for this project while running those content castles, starting the book in the early 2000s, then taking a break from writing it ’cause life be life’n.—
Datwon Thomas,
VIBE.com,
5 Feb. 2026
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The skyline seems built from the splintered remains of ancient castles.—
Roger Naylor,
AZCentral.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Beyond its white-, black- or golden-sand beaches and historic forts, the island has the opportunity to carve out a new role as a model for responsible travel, one where visitors don’t just take from the island but give back to it.—
Josh Rivera,
USA Today,
9 Feb. 2026
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Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, alliances with various European powers shifted and forts rose, then fell into piles of matchsticks.—
Jeff Chu,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bastions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bastions. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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