palisade
Americannoun
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a fence of pales or stakes set firmly in the ground, as for enclosure or defense.
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any of a number of pales or stakes pointed at the top and set firmly in the ground in a close row with others to form a defense.
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Botany. palisade parenchyma.
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palisades, a line of cliffs.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a strong fence made of stakes driven into the ground, esp for defence
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one of the stakes used in such a fence
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botany a layer of elongated mesophyll cells containing many chloroplasts, situated below the outer epidermis of a leaf blade
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of palisade
1590–1600; < French palissade < Old Provençal palissada, equivalent to paliss ( a ) paling (derivative of pal stake, pale 2 ) + -ada -ade 1
Explanation
A palisade is a heavy-duty fence that's strong enough to keep out intruders, like one you might see around a military camp. Traditionally, palisades were built with wooden stakes around small forts or castles as a way to keep out enemies. There's evidence that this kind of fence was often used in ancient Greece and Rome. More modern palisades are made out of metal and give protection to houses in dangerous neighborhoods, for example. The root word is the Latin palus, which means "stake."
Vocabulary lists containing palisade
Written in Bone
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The Road
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Treasure Island
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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.
The recall affects about 69,000 Hyundai Palisade models.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
The latest Palisade is larger and longer, in wheelbase and overall length, than the first-gen model.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026
At that rate a Palisade hybrid could drive from New York to L.A. stopping only four times for gas, or once every 10 hours.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026
“We are noticing that runoff is low. There is no doubt about it,” said Luke Gingerich, a farmer who grows peaches near the river in Palisade, Colo.
From Los Angeles Times • May 30, 2025
As a sequel to this incident I got Mr. Perkins to serve on the Palisade Park Commission.
From Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography by Roosevelt, Theodore
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.
