battlement

American  

[bat-l-muhnt] / ˈbæt l mənt /

noun

1. Often battlements. a parapet or cresting, originally defensive but later usually decorative, consisting of a regular alternation of merlons and crenels; crenelation.

---

battlement British  

/ ˈbætəlmənt /

noun

1. a parapet or wall with indentations or embrasures, originally for shooting through

---

Other Word Forms

• battlemented adjective

Etymology

Origin of battlement

1275–1325; Middle English batelment < Middle French bataille battlement; -ment

Example Sentences

One night, as she walks with Donatello along a battlement, they see the model nearby, dressed as a friar.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

A gun sits atop a buried battlement under the flags, part of a vast underground network of German defenses.

From Seattle Times • May 15, 2019

But in the six decades that the Henderson Castle loomed over 16th Street NW, it was probably the city’s most impressive faux battlement.

From Washington Post • Dec. 9, 2017

Hairdressers with ideas above their stations; dreary waifs wilting in garrets; talking statues; battlement suicides; to say nothing of the one with the Viking hats.

From The Guardian • Feb. 14, 2011

Yoren climbed the battlement beside the gate, his faded black cloak tied to a wooden staff.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin