Word of the Day : March 25, 2022

bastion

play

noun BAS-chun

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What It Means

A bastion is "a place or system in which something continues to survive."

// The university is a bastion of academic excellence.

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bastion in Context

"Connecticut has been a bastion of modern dance for a century, and such an entrenched classical ballet could come off as rather quaint. Not at the Palace, however, which is as grand and ornate as this ballet." — Christopher Arnott, The Hartford Courant, 11 Feb. 2022

Did You Know?

Bastion is related to bastille (a word now used as a general term for a prison, but probably best known as the name of the Parisian fortress-turned-prison stormed by an angry mob at the start of the French Revolution). It comes from the Italian verb bastire, which means "to build."