fortress

Definition of fortressnext
as in stronghold
a structure or place from which one can resist attack the boys built a snow fortress and then challenged the neighborhood kids to an in-your-face snowball fight

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of fortress While the prison grounds have no high fences, the prison units exist as separate fortresses, successors to the long wooden barracks that were once here. Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026 Another brick has been laid in One Battle After Another’s impenetrable fortress this awards season. Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026 From fortress to functionality The new headquarters marks a significant square-foot reduction for the automaker’s corporate office — from a towering complex called the Renaissance Center along the city’s riverfront to just four floors, roughly 200,000 square feet, in the new building. Michael Wayland, CNBC, 11 Jan. 2026 Walk in around the massive fortress with its cannons and tunnels. Lisa Cericola, Southern Living, 9 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for fortress
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fortress
Noun
  • McDonald said DeSantis also could be trying to shore up Republican strongholds to mitigate the losses generally experienced by the party in power during midterm elections.
    Mike Schneider, Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Campbell’s main support always came from the union stronghold of Pueblo, in southern Colorado.
    Dave Marston, Denver Post, 6 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • The area was once a citadel complex in the time of King Herod, who ruled from 37 to 5 B.C. after he was appointed king of Judea by the Romans.
    Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The sprawling citadel — complete with towers, walls and barracks — was discovered at the Tel el-Kharouba archaeological site in the Sinai Peninsula, according to an Oct. 11 news release from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
    Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Hundreds of millions more are dedicated to smaller, local road projects and the fortification of rural bridges.
    AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 15 Jan. 2026
  • In September 2023, in the middle of the Northumberland night, a mechanic named Adam Carruthers cut down a sycamore tree more than a century old that stood in a gap along an especially picturesque section of Hadrian’s Wall, the Roman fortification that runs across the narrowest part of England.
    Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 30 Dec. 2025
Noun
  • Outside of showing us the Secret Traitor’s handwriting on their shortlists, there were no tells from the production team about who this person could be, just shadowy footage of some hooded player wandering the castle with a lantern.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 10 Jan. 2026
  • After the cast gathered outside the castle, host Alan Cumming selected one player in plain sight to take on the role.
    Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 9 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • The city was once a bastion of boutique hotels—such as the forthcoming El Cortés, opening in Roma Norte in March in a 1915 Art Nouveau mansion—but the scene is shifting as the big names arrive.
    CNT Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 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, Arkansas Online, 18 Jan. 2026
Noun
  • There are several historical accounts of his ruthlessness to people at the fort.
    Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Nicole Fallert Greetings from inside my snow fort.
    Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Fortress.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fortress. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.

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