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fortress. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
fortress, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
fortress in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
fortress you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Early 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece (“strong place, fortification”), variant of fortelesse, from Medieval Latin fortalitia, from Latin fortis (“strong”) (see fort) + -itia, added to adjectives to form nouns of quality or condition. French -ess, from Latin -itia is also in words such as duress, largesse and riches. For change of medial -l- to -r- in Old French, compare orne (“elm”) from ulmus; chartre from cartula and chapitre from capitulum. First attested in the 12th century.
Pronunciation
Noun
fortress (plural fortresses)
- A fortified place; a large and permanent fortification, sometimes including a town; for example a fort, a castle; a stronghold; a place of defense or security.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160:Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.
- (chess) A position that, if obtained by the weaker side, will prevent penetration by the opposing side, generally achieving a draw.
Synonyms
Translations
fortified place
- Ainu: チャシ (chashi)
- Albanian: kala (sq) f, fortesë (sq) f
- Arabic: قَلْعَة f (qalʕa), حِصْن (ar) m (ḥiṣn)
- Moroccan Arabic: قلعة f (qalʕa)
- Armenian: ամրոց (hy) (amrocʻ), բերդ (hy) (berd)
- Aromanian: tsitati f, grãditã f
- Azerbaijani: qala (az)
- Belarusian: крэ́пасць f (krépascʹ), фартэ́цыя f (fartécyja), цвердзь f (cvjerdzʹ), фартэ́ца f (fartéca)
- Bengali: দুর্গ (bn) (durgo), কেল্লা (bn) (kella), কোট (kōṭ)
- Bulgarian: кре́пост (bg) f (krépost)
- Burmese: ခံမြို့ (my) (hkammrui.), ခံတပ် (my) (hkamtap)
- Catalan: fortalesa (ca) f
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 要塞 (zh) (yàosài), 城堡 (zh) (chéngbǎo), 堡壘/堡垒 (zh) (bǎolěi)
- Classical Nahuatl: yāōcalli
- Czech: pevnost (cs) f
- Danish: fæstning (da) c
- Dutch: vesting (nl) f, fort (nl) n
- Dzongkha: རྫོང (rdzong)
- Erzya: кемечикудо (kemečikudo)
- Esperanto: fortreso, fortiko
- Estonian: kindlus
- Finnish: linnoitus (fi)
- French: forteresse (fr) f
- Galician: forte (gl) m, fortaleza (gl) f
- Georgian: ციხესიმაგრე (cixesimagre)
- German: Festung (de) f
- Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 f (baurgs)
- Greek: φρούριο (el) n (froúrio)
- Ancient: φρούριον n (phroúrion), ὀχύρωμα n (okhúrōma)
- Hebrew: מִבְצָר (he) m (mivtsár)
- Hindi: गढ़ी (hi) (gaṛhī), क़िला m (qilā), दुर्ग (hi) m (durg)
- Hungarian: vár, erőd (hu), erődítmény (hu)
- Icelandic: virki n
- Ido: fortreso (io)
- Ingrian: kreeposti
- Irish: dún
- Italian: fortezza (it) f, rocca (it) f
- Japanese: 要塞 (ja) (ようさい, yōsai), 城塞 (ja) (じょうさい, jōsai)
- Kalmyk: шивә (şivä)
- Karakalpak: qorg'an
- Kazakh: бекініс (bekınıs), қамал (qamal)
- Khmer: បន្ទាយ (km) (bɑntiəy)
- Korean: 요새(要塞) (ko) (yosae), 성새(城塞) (seongsae)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: قەڵا (ckb) (qella)
- Northern Kurdish: birc (ku), kelhe (ku)
- Kyrgyz: сепил (ky) (sepil)
- Lao: ປ້ອມ (pǭm), ບຸລະ (bu la)
- Latin: castrum (la) n, castellum (la) n, arx (la) f
- Latvian: cietoksnis m
- Lithuanian: tvirtovė f
- Macedonian: твр́дина f (tvŕdina), ка́ле n (kále), кре́пост f (krépost)
- Malay: kubu (ms), benteng (ms)
- Maranao: ilian
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: цайз (mn) (cajz), хэрэм (mn) (xerem)
- Norman: fortéresse f (Jersey)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: festning m or f
- Nynorsk: festning f or m
- Occitan: fortalesa (oc) f
- Old English: fæsten n
- Ottoman Turkish: حصار (hisar), حصن (hısn), قلعه (kal'a), قله (kale)
- Pashto: قلعه (ps) m (qal'á)
- Persian:
- Dari: دِژ (fa) (diž), قَلْعَه (fa) (qal'a)
- Iranian Persian: دِژ (fa) (dež), قَلْعِه (fa) (ğal'e)
- Polish: forteca (pl) f, twierdza (pl) f, warownia (pl) f
- Portuguese: fortaleza (pt) f
- Potawatomi: wakaigin
- Quechua: pukara
- Romanian: cetate (ro) f, fortăreață (ro) f
- Russian: кре́пость (ru) f (krépostʹ)
- Sanskrit: पुरा (sa) (purā), दुर्ग (sa) m (durga), पुरी (sa) f (purī)
- Scots: fortress
- Scottish Gaelic: dùn m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: твр̀ђава f, у̏тврда f, тврђа f
- Roman: tvr̀đava (sh) f, ȕtvrda (sh) f, tvȑđa (sh) f
- Shona: svingo
- Slovak: pevnosť f, tvrdza m
- Slovene: utrdba (sl) f
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: grod m
- Spanish: fortaleza (es) f
- Swedish: fästning (sv) c
- Tajik: қалъа (qalʾa), диж (tg) (diž)
- Tashelhit: ⵜⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔⵜ f (tagadirt)
- Tatar: кальга (tt) (qal’ga)
- Thai: ป้อม (th) (bpɔ̂m), ปราการ (th) (bpraa-gaan)
- Turkish: kale (tr), hisar (tr)
- Turkmen: gala
- Ukrainian: форте́ця (uk) f (fortécja), крі́пость f (krípostʹ), тверди́ня f (tverdýnja)
- Urdu: قِلْعَہ m (qil'a), قَلْعَہ m (qal'a)
- Uyghur: قەلئە (qel'e)
- Uzbek: qalʻa
- Vietnamese: pháo đài (vi)
- Welsh: caer (cy) f
- Yiddish: פֿעסטונג f (festung)
- Zhuang: yausai
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See also
Verb
fortress (third-person singular simple present fortresses, present participle fortressing, simple past and past participle fortressed)
- (transitive) To furnish with a fortress or with fortresses; to guard, to fortify.