bulwark
Americannoun
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a wall of earth or other material built for defense; rampart.
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any protection against external danger, injury, or annoyance.
The new dam was a bulwark against future floods.
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any person or thing giving strong support or encouragement in time of need, danger, or doubt.
Religion was his bulwark.
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Nautical. Usually bulwarks. a solid wall enclosing the perimeter of a weather or main deck for the protection of persons or objects on deck.
verb (used with object)
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bulwarks,
present (3rd person singular)
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bulwarked,
past participle, past
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bulwarking
present participle
noun
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a wall or similar structure used as a fortification; rampart
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a person or thing acting as a defence against injury, annoyance, etc
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(often plural) nautical a solid vertical fencelike structure along the outward sides of a deck
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a breakwater or mole
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bulwarksimple
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bulwarkssimple
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have bulwarkedperfect
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has bulwarkedperfect
-
am bulwarkingprogressive
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are bulwarkingprogressive
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is bulwarkingprogressive
-
have been bulwarkingperfect progressive
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has been bulwarkingperfect progressive
Past
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bulwarkedsimple
-
had bulwarkedperfect
-
was bulwarkingprogressive
-
were bulwarkingprogressive
-
had been bulwarkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bulwark
1375–1425; late Middle English bulwerk, probably < Middle Dutch bolwerc, equivalent to bol ( l ) e bole 1 + werk work (noun); cf. boulevard
Explanation
A bulwark is a wall built for protection or defense. If you and your pals build a secret fort for girls only, you might want to build a bulwark to surround it — with a "No Boys Allowed" sign posted prominently. A seawall that runs perpendicular to the shore is sometimes called a bulwark, because it defends the beach, not against invaders, but against beach erosion. Although the noun bulwark can refer to any fortified wall, it often specifically refers to an earthen wall, like a rampart. As a verb, bulwark means to fortify with a wall or to provide protection: "The volunteers used sandbags to bulwark the levee in an attempt to prevent the flooded river from overflowing its banks."
Vocabulary lists containing bulwark
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Death imagery as a bulwark against fear of death is so well known that it is covered under the psychological umbrella of Terror Management Theory as a coping mechanism.
From Slate ● Jul. 10, 2026
Zinat-un-Nisa was a powerful political actor and an "extraordinarily influential and important political bulwark for her ageing and politically vulnerable" father toward the end of his life.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
Far from corrupting high culture, the middlebrow was once the bulwark that protected it.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
In a surprise, Democrat Alicia Halvensleben won the mayor’s race in Waukesha, a suburb west of Milwaukee and the former bulwark of Mr. Walker’s Wisconsin majorities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
If Aristotle were to fall, the proof of God—a bulwark of the church—was no longer valid.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
There will be raking, and pile-making, and paper sacks stuffed with leaves, arrayed along curbs like defensive bulwarks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Most of my life, the American right has had lots of bulwarks against that kind of racism and antisemitism—and militant, anti-democratic strains.
From Slate ● May 18, 2024
Forests could also be potential bulwarks against climate change.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 10, 2024
Political parties with his backing continued to win elections but were forced from power several times by the courts and the army, both bulwarks of royalism.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 1, 2023
Instead of surging over the bulwarks and exploding in the captain’s face, it ricocheted off the ship’s side and went straight into the Pacific, where it died with a hiss.
From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel
The valuations are bulwarked by new information from Cerebras’s pre-IPO filings with the SEC showing company revenue grew 76% between 2024 and 2025 to $510 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
Presidential blue-ribbon panels bulwarked the Social Security program in 1983 and overhauled NASA’s space shuttle program after the 1986 Challenger disaster.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 24, 2023
Even Einstein, the prototypical loner, was bulwarked by a vast correspondence of arguing and discussion.
From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2016
He didn't say that the British way is better, cleaner, more constitutionally bulwarked – because, actually, it isn't.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 28, 2010
Tommy himself had prudently departed, bulwarked by his new comrades.
From King Spruce, A Novel by Holman Day
In addition to bulwarking security, many are bunkering from reporters who have descended on a normally sleepy community.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 9, 2023
On the DDoS front, the companies involved are doubtless bolstering their defenses, but bulwarking for brute force denial of service attacks is an ongoing process, and there’s no panacea.
From Time ● Aug. 25, 2014
In late 1938, dead-sure war was coming, Rosenstiel began bulwarking his company against war's impact.
From Time Magazine Archive
The State Department insisted gamely that Nixon was actually bulwarking Rogers' political initiative.
From Time Magazine Archive
His inquiries had been bent towards so disposing the financial operations, so bulwarking the mining industry by sagacious designs, that, when the worst came, they all would be able to weather the storm.
From The Judgment House by Gilbert Parker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
