Stronghold Meaning
/ˈstɹɒŋhəʊld/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA place built to withstand attack; a fortress.
nounA place of domination by, or refuge or survival of, a particular group or idea.
Sentence Examples
That village is the enemy's last stronghold.
This city is a stronghold of security.
The last stronghold of humanity has finally fallen.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ancient fortress served as a secure ____ for the army during the attack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The castle served as a powerful ____ for the king during the long and difficult years of the war.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English stranghalde, strong-hold, strong-holde, from strong (“having physical strength, sturdy, strong; built to withstand assaults, fortified”) (from Old English strang, strong (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“stiff, tight”)) + hōld (“grasp, grip; control, possession, rule”) (from Old English). By surface analysis, strong + hold.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"AFter this victory thus opteyned by the Sicambris, they waxed so stronge that they wan frome yᵉ Almaynes dyuers Townes & stronge holds wᵗin Germania, and after that they opteyned yᵉ famous Cytie named Treueris; which as wytnessyth yᵉ Auctour of Cronica Cronicaruin, was firste foundyd in the Towne of the Patryarch Abraham before the Incarnation of Criste."
— a. 1513, Robert Fabyan, Henry Ellis, “Gallie Prouincia”, in The New Chronicles of England and France, in Two Parts; … Named by Himself the Concordance of Histories. Reprinted from Pynson’s Edition of 1516. The First Part Collated with the Editions of 1533, 1542, and 1559; and the Second with a Manuscript of the Author’s Own Time, as well as the Subsequent Editions: Including the Different Continuations. To which are Added a Biographical and Literary Preface, and an Index, volume V, London: F. C. and J. Rivington [et al.], published 1811, →OCLC, pars quinta [part V], capitulum lxxvii, page 56:
"For security's sake they [the Germans] gathered together in villages and cities. These they surrounded with heavy walls and towers, and protected them by castles, erected on steep cliffs and mountains. The custody of these strongholds was entrusted to the most efficient warriors, who in time formed a separate class, the nobility, from which the heads of the whole nation, the princes, kings and emperors were chosen."
— 1919, Rudolf Cronau, “Women during the Middle Ages”, in Woman Triumphant: The Story of Her Struggles for Freedom, Education and Political Rights: Dedicated to All Noble-minded Women by an Appreciative Member of the Other Sex, New York, N.Y.: Published by R. Cronau, 340 East 198th Street, New York, →OCLC, pages 84–85:
"For a time, it was the only Royalist stronghold between London and Exeter, but it fell at last when a member of the garrison turned traitor and admitted the Parliamentary besiegers who destroyed it with gunpowder."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 134, about Corfe Castle:
"As Edwin Clark [...] wrote in 1850: "[...] The lofty towers of the castle overhang the western approach to the Bridge, and the line passes into Conway through an opening pierced in the embattled wall, which entirely surrounds the town. These fortifications are in good preservation, and rank among the most perfect examples of the strongholds of the 13th century.""
— 2022 January 12, Dr. Joseph Brennan, “Castles: ruined and redeemed by rail”, in RAIL, number 948, page 54:
"With the numerous soldiers of Asia, with all of warlike stores, ships, and military engines, that wealth and power could command, the Turks at once resolved to crush an enemy, which creeping on by degrees, had from their stronghold in the Morea, acquired Thrace and Macedonia, and had led their armies even to the gates of Constantinople, while their extensive commercial relations gave every European nation an interest in their success."
— 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter X, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 347:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ancient fortress served as a secure ____ for the army during the attack.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The castle served as a powerful ____ for the king during the long and difficult years of the war.