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
The surge in costs reflects a major shift for Chicago, known as one of the last bastions of big-city affordability.
—
Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, 14 Apr. 2026
Israeli officials further compounded those fears Wednesday, with Avichay Adraee, Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman, accusing Hezbollah of moving beyond its traditional bastions of support in the southern suburbs of the capital and embedding itself in north Beirut and mixed neighborhoods.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Military engineers resorted to building lower, thicker ramparts, backed by earth, and sought to eliminate blind spots by building angular bastions — the aforementioned extrusions.
—Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
The first round brought mixed results for the party, which got re-elected in several cities but failed to make major wins beyond its southern and northern bastions.
—Reuters, NBC news, 22 Mar. 2026
For its part, the M2 is seen by many as one of the last bastions of the M division’s original ethos.
—Bradley Iger, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2026
City types of a certain age have been dismayed at the loss of one of the Square Mile’s bastions.
—Ian King, CNBC, 18 Feb. 2026
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
Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, 14 Apr. 2026
Israeli officials further compounded those fears Wednesday, with Avichay Adraee, Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman, accusing Hezbollah of moving beyond its traditional bastions of support in the southern suburbs of the capital and embedding itself in north Beirut and mixed neighborhoods.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Military engineers resorted to building lower, thicker ramparts, backed by earth, and sought to eliminate blind spots by building angular bastions — the aforementioned extrusions.
—Big Think, 27 Mar. 2026
The first round brought mixed results for the party, which got re-elected in several cities but failed to make major wins beyond its southern and northern bastions.
—Reuters, NBC news, 22 Mar. 2026
For its part, the M2 is seen by many as one of the last bastions of the M division’s original ethos.
—Bradley Iger, Robb Report, 18 Mar. 2026
City types of a certain age have been dismayed at the loss of one of the Square Mile’s bastions.
—Ian King, CNBC, 18 Feb. 2026
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bastions
Noun
-
Locals are still questioning why their residential areas were targeted since neither of these Beirut neighborhoods are considered Hezbollah strongholds.—
Will Clark,
NBC news,
20 Apr. 2026
-
Over in Audubon Park, same date, same time, Mellow Market will be holding things down on the corner of East Winter Park Road and Corrine Drive, steps from Stardust Coffee & Film, and nearby strongholds like East End Market, The Salty and the exemplary Coro restaurant.—
Amy Drew Thompson,
The Orlando Sentinel,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Surface tanks are targets; subsurface reservoirs are fortresses.—
Siddharth Misra,
Fortune,
6 Mar. 2026
-
France believed its Maginot Line of fortresses was impregnable – until the Germans simply went around it.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Over many years, Iran has built underground fortifications and facilities to protect its missile and drone inventory.—
Daniel Kurtzer,
New York Daily News,
5 Apr. 2026
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Javelin missile systems are portable antitank weapons also designed to destroy low-flying helicopters and other fortifications.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Families can build sand castles, fly kites, or climb to the top of the dunes for a stunning sunset show, while thrill-seekers can go sand-boarding or hang gliding (permits from and/or registration with the park office are required).—
Betsy Cribb Watson,
Southern Living,
19 Apr. 2026
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Then enjoy the rest of it on land, learning about native plants and animals at the Gulf State Park Nature Center and building towering sand castles with private lessons through Sand Castle University.—
Catherine Garcia,
TheWeek,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
These individuals shaped Charleston’s politics and economy by building canals, roads, bridges, forts— virtually all the colony’s infrastructure—but their contributions were not documented and their names are unknown.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Apr. 2026
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Massive cannons were stationed at forts across the world, while smaller and more-portable guns accompanied troops and naval (and pirate) vessels.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bastions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bastions. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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