redoubt

¹ American  

[ri-dout] / rɪˈdaʊt /

noun

1. Fortification.

   1. an isolated work forming a complete enclosure of any form, used to defend a prominent point.

   2. an independent earthwork built within a permanent fortification to reinforce it.

2. any safe and secure place or situation; refuge; stronghold.

   Lebanon has represented one of the last redoubts of Christianity in the Middle East.

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Redoubt ² American  

[ri-dout, ree-dout] / rɪˈdaʊt, ˈri daʊt /

noun

1. Mount, an active volcano in S Alaska, on the Alaska Peninsula: highest peak in the Aleutian Range. 10,197 feet (3,108 meters).

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redoubt British  

/ rɪˈdaʊt /

noun

1. an outwork or detached fieldwork defending a pass, hilltop, etc

2. a temporary defence work built inside a fortification as a last defensive position

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Etymology

Origin of redoubt

First recorded in 1600–10; from French redoute, from Italian ridotto, from Late Latin reductus “a refuge,” noun use of past participle of Latin redūcere “to lead back”; see reduce

Explanation

A redoubt is a fort or retreat, like a temporary military shelter. Want to see a redoubt? Go to the US Military Academy at West Point where there are redoubts from the Revolutionary War. It’s also spelled "redout." Redoubts were often built around existing fortifications out of earth or stone to protect the most vulnerable soldiers outside the main area. Redoubt means "place of retreat," and a figurative redoubt might be the comfort you get from your group of friends or even your own certainty about the truth of your beliefs.

Example Sentences

No hot line summons this super-cop from a hidden redoubt.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2025

King Charles III, Prince William and more than 1,500 soldiers welcomed Trump to Windsor Castle, the thousand-year-old redoubt of the British monarchy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 27, 2025

Geneviève de Galard became a celebrated figure exactly 70 years ago when she was the only woman nurse tending French casualties inside the doomed redoubt of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam.

From BBC • May 31, 2024

Washington state could become its own time island, a sort of chronological redoubt.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 9, 2023

Entry to the inner redoubt requires one to pass through the mathematical sciences, with Tartaglia himself standing among them; within is Philosophy, accompanied by Aristotle and Plato.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• barrier
• citadel
• garrison
• rampart