redoubt
noun
redoubt
1 American
[ri-dout]
/ rɪˈdaʊt /
noun
-
Fortification.
-
an isolated work forming a complete enclosure of any form, used to defend a prominent point.
-
an independent earthwork built within a permanent fortification to reinforce it.
-
-
any safe and secure place or situation; refuge; stronghold.
Lebanon has represented one of the last redoubts of Christianity in the Middle East.
Redoubt
2
American
[ri-dout, ree-dout]
/ rɪˈdaʊt, ˈri daʊt /
noun
redoubt
British
/ rɪˈdaʊt /
noun
-
an outwork or detached fieldwork defending a pass, hilltop, etc
-
a temporary defence work built inside a fortification as a last defensive position
Etymology
Origin of redoubt
First recorded in 1600–10; from French redoute, from Italian ridotto, from Late Latin reductus “a refuge,” noun use of past participle of Latin redūcere “to lead back”; see reduce
Explanation
A redoubt is a fort or retreat, like a temporary military shelter. Want to see a redoubt? Go to the US Military Academy at West Point where there are redoubts from the Revolutionary War. It’s also spelled "redout." Redoubts were often built around existing fortifications out of earth or stone to protect the most vulnerable soldiers outside the main area. Redoubt means "place of retreat," and a figurative redoubt might be the comfort you get from your group of friends or even your own certainty about the truth of your beliefs.
Vocabulary lists containing redoubt
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The War of the Worlds
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
King Charles III, Prince William and more than 1,500 soldiers welcomed Trump to Windsor Castle, the thousand-year-old redoubt of the British monarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2025
In the words of Gulf scholar Paul Rich, this was "the Indian Empire's last redoubt, just as Goa was Portuguese India's last solitary vestige, or Pondicherry was the tag-end of French India".
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2025
At the installation — a cliff-side redoubt overlooking vast deforested areas and topped with a gigantic transmitter — Wenjie quickly learns the truth.
From New York Times ● Mar. 21, 2024
Washington state could become its own time island, a sort of chronological redoubt.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2023
Entry to the inner redoubt requires one to pass through the mathematical sciences, with Tartaglia himself standing among them; within is Philosophy, accompanied by Aristotle and Plato.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Rawles’s reach was magnified by outlets such as “Radio Free Redoubt,” a podcast geared toward “God-fearing, liberty-loving patriots,” and Redoubt News, an “online publication featuring the Christian conservative culture.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 24, 2023
In 1989, Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano, another composite volcano, belched an 8-mile cloud of ash that clogged all four engines of a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jet.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 28, 2022
Redoubt erupted, threatening Anchorage with an ash storm and forcing the delay or cancellation of commercial flights that passed over the area.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2021
James Wesley Rawles, the reclusive founder of the separatist and survivalist American Redoubt movement, was interviewed by Dow Jones website, MarketWatch, about his approach to prepping.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 19, 2020
It was only in redoubts like the Frezenberg Redoubt which had escaped destruction that the German machine-gunners still fought and gave trouble.
From From Bapaume to Passchendaele, 1917 by Gibbs, Philip
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.