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Conditions for Mechanicsburg, PA, US
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bastion
\BAS-chun\ noun a projecting part of a fortification a fortified area or position a place of security or survival a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic Example Sentence The university's economics department was considered the last bastion of political conservatism within an otherwise liberal campus. "Bastion" is constructed of etymological building blocks that are very similar to those of "bastille" (a word now used as a general term for a prison, but probably best known as the name of the Parisian fortress-turned-prison stormed by an angry mob at the start of the French Revolution). The history of "bastion" can be traced through Middle French to the Old Italian verb "bastire," which means "to build." "Bastille" descends from the Old Occitan verb "bastir," which also means "to build." "Bastir" and "bastire" are themselves of Germanic origin and akin to the Old High German word "besten," meaning "to patch." *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. powered by Merriam-Webster Online
The safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle
slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without
milestones, without signposts.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English Author and Scholar |