bastille
bastille Lexical Profile
bastille Game Scores & Validity
• noun
(usually capitalized as 'the Bastille') A medieval royal fortress in Paris, France, used as a state prison during the 17th and 18th centuries and stormed on July 14, 1789, marking a pivotal event of the French Revolution.
"The storming of the Bastille in 1789 became an enduring symbol of the fall of absolute monarchy in France."
A prison, jail, or fortified place of detention, especially one regarded as oppressive or inescapable.
"Investigative journalists exposed the overcrowded conditions inside the aging state bastille."
(historical) A small fortress, fortified tower, or wooden siege tower used in medieval warfare.
"The king ordered the construction of a stone bastille to guard the eastern approach to the city walls."
• verb
To confine or lock up in, or as if in, a prison or the Bastille (dated or literary).
"The regime sought to bastille any pamphlet writer who dared to criticize the royal court."
• Rhymes for bastille
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'bastille' (fortified tower or fortress), from Old Occitan 'bastida', derived from the verb 'bastir' (to build). Its generalized sense of a prison arose from the Bastille Saint-Antoine in Paris, the royal fortress and state prison stormed on July 14, 1789, at the outbreak of the French Revolution.