Meaning

2 senses
  1. 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.

    Festung

    кре́постьkrépostʹ

    форте́цяfortécja, крі́постьkrípostʹ, тверди́няtverdýnja

  2. A position that, if obtained by the weaker side, will prevent penetration by the opposing side, generally achieving a draw.

    Festung

    крепостьkrepostʹ

More definitions
  • a fortified defensive structure

Examples

53 sentences
  1. The fortress was in the enemy's hands.

    ruКрепость была в руках врага. — marafon

  2. You can still see the remains of the fortress there.

  3. They built the walls of the fortress without using cement at all.

  4. The soldiers soon overran the fortress.

  5. His house looked like a fortress.

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
fortified place:
Русский
By meaning 2
fortified place:
chess technique:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
fortified place:

Origin

Early 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece (“strong place, fortificati

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, prowess, largesse and richesse. 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.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: fortresses
Singularfortress
Pluralfortresses

regular

Synonyms

5 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • a fortified defensive structure:fort

Word family

4 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
fortress — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto