Word of the Day Archive
Tuesday April 12, 2005

Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Previous Words | Subscribe for Free | Help

redoubt \rih-DOWT\ , noun:
1. A small and usually temporary defensive fortification.
2. A defended position or protective barrier.
3. A secure place of refuge or defense; a stronghold.

Evicting the intruders from their mountain redoubts with ground forces alone was beginning to look like a protracted and expensive task.
-- "Kashmir's violent spring", The Economist, May 29, 1999

First, Milosevic himself will be absent, apparently fearful of leaving his redoubt in Belgrade.
-- "Lessons of Balkans Applied to Kosovo", New York Times, February 1, 1999

Redoubt derives from French redoute, from Italian ridotto, from Latin reductus, "a refuge, a retreat," from reducere, "to lead or draw back," from re-, "back" + ducere, "to lead."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for redoubt

 

AddThis: