bastille

noun

bas·tille | \ ba-ˈstēl

Definition of bastille

: prison, jail

Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about bastille

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Synonyms for bastille

Synonyms

big house [slang], bridewell, brig, calaboose, can, clink [slang], cooler, coop, guardroom, hock, hold, hoosegow, jail, jailhouse, joint [slang], jug, lockup, nick [British slang], pen, penitentiary, pokey [slang], prison, quod [British slang], slam, slammer, stir [slang], stockade, tolbooth [Scottish]

Examples of bastille in a Sentence

were amazed by the squalid, cramped quarters in the town's historic bastille

Recent Examples on the Web

For his part, Bowie celebrated the election by joining forces with John Barleycorn and evicting the residents of the local bastille. — Robert Kolarik, San Antonio Express-News, "Bowie stricken, gives up command," 23 Feb. 2018 For his part, Bowie celebrated the election by joining forces with John Barleycorn and evicting the residents of the local bastille. — Robert Kolarik, San Antonio Express-News, "Bowie stricken, gives up command," 23 Feb. 2018 In these wet, wooden bastilles in New York waters, more Americans died than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War combined. — Benedict Cosgrove, Smithsonian, "The Grisly History of Brooklyn’s Revolutionary War Martyrs," 13 Mar. 2017 In these wet, wooden bastilles in New York waters, more Americans died than in all the battles of the Revolutionary War combined. — Benedict Cosgrove, Smithsonian, "The Grisly History of Brooklyn’s Revolutionary War Martyrs," 13 Mar. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bastille.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for bastille

borrowed from French, after the Bastille St. Antoine, fortress built at an eastern gate of Paris in the later 14th century (used as a prison and destroyed in 1789), from Middle French bassetille, bastille "fortress, fortification," alteration (by substitution of the suffix -ille, usually diminutive, going back to Latin -īcula) of bastide, borrowed from Old Occitan bastida "building, fortification," noun derivative from feminine past participle of bastir "to weave, build, construct," going back to Old Low Franconian *bastjan "to weave with bast strips" — more at baste entry 1