redoubt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a small enclosed defensive fortification, often temporary or supplementary

   The soldiers reinforced the hilltop redoubt with earth and timber before nightfall.

2. 2
   noun

   a protected place of refuge or a final center of resistance

   The remote valley became the movement's last redoubt after the capital fell.

From French redoute, from Italian ridotto, 'a place of retreat,' from ridurre, 'to lead back.' The spelling was later influenced by doubt and redoubtable, although the word is not etymologically derived from English doubt.

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