Make Your Point > Archived Issues > BASTION

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.

pronounce BASTION: Say it "BASS chun." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: As we check out the word bastion, see if you can recall a similar noun with both literal and figurative applications: a literal b_____ss is built up against a wall to give support, and a figurative one is something that provides strong, stable support. Both bastions and b_____sses are types of f____fications, or things that provide strength. (To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) definition: We took the word "bastion" from French, where it might trace back to a word meaning "to build." Literally speaking, a bastion is a structure, often round, that pokes out from the rest of a building and provides for defense. Figuratively speaking, a bastion is a person or thing that seems to protect something (from attacks, or from change or disappearance). grammatical bits: Part of speech: Noun, the countable kind: "They placed a bastion on the east side of the castle;" "He retreated to his bastion of solitude;" "They stayed inside their bastion of privilege." Other forms:  The plural is "bastions." A "bastionet," or "bastionette," is a little bastion. "Bastion" can also be a verb, meaning either "to add one or more bastions to something" or "to protect and strengthen something, like a bastion." Things can then be "bastioned," literally or figuratively. how to use it: Pick the common, dramatic word "bastion" to emphasize just how strong, sturdy, and steadfast some person, place, or thing is as it protects some ideal, value, belief, principle, tradition, etc. You might refer to a person, place, or thing as a bastion of something: a bastion of sanity, the last bastion of their culture, the crumbling bastion of polite society and grammatical correctness. And you might say that people are hiding in a bastion, retreating to a bastion, tearing down a bastion, etc. Although a bastion generally stands in protection of something worth protecting, it doesn't have to: "that bastion of ageism," "this bastion of lazy thinking," "that bastion of white privilege." examples: "Long a bastion of anonymity, Craigslist is putting a few of its users on camera."    — Associated Press, 14 May 2010 "Opponents say the move will censor the web... and undermine Iceland's reputation as a Scandinavian bastion of free speech."    — Associated Press in Reykjavik, The Guardian, 25 February 2013 has this page helped you understand "bastion"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "bastion" without saying "stronghold" or "bulwark." try it out: Fill in the blanks: "(Some place or group) is the last bastion of (something that seems to be disappearing, or is less popular or less acceptable than it used to be)." Example: "[New Orleans is] the last bastion of living, breathing contemporary street culture and you don't get it anywhere else in America."    — Delany Martin, as quoted by Lizzy Goodman, New York Times, 6 March 2014 If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game this month is Subject Line Matching! Try matching each capitalized term below with the email subject line that introduced it. You can check your answers by scrolling all the way down. For an extra challenge, try recalling what each term means and how the subject line connects to it. Have fun! APERCU: _____ CACHINNATE: _____ DIVULGE: _____ MITIGATE: _____ PLASTICITY: _____ a brain like a Koosh ball I see what you did there listen (ooh wah ooh), do you want to know a secret? not teehee, but AHHHH HA HA HAH AHAH HAHAH Now your friends can sign your cast! review this word: 1. A near opposite of BASTIONED is A. GRAND. B. INTEGRATED. C. VULNERABLE. 2. In the movie The NeverEnding Story, the aptly named Bastian must _____. A. recapture a priceless jewel B. take revenge against an evil ruler C. protect a world that represents imagination itself Answers to review questions: 1. C 2. C Answers to the game questions: APERCU: I see what you did there CACHINNATE: not teehee, but AHHHH HA HA HAH AHAH HAHAH DIVULGE: listen (ooh wah ooh), do you want to know a secret? MITIGATE: Now your friends can sign your cast! PLASTICITY: a brain like a Koosh ball   a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog:    36 ways to study words.    Why we forget words, & how to remember them.    How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.