From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbastionbas‧ti‧on /ˈbæstiən $ -tʃən/ noun [countable] 1 PROTECTsomething that protects a way of life, principle etc that seems likely to change or end completelybastion of These clubs are the last bastions of male privilege.2 PMa place where a country or army has strong military defences Pearl Harbor was the principal American bastion in the Pacific.3 TBBAA technical a part of a castle wall that sticks out from the rest
Examples from the Corpus
bastion• A bastion of male privilege on the rocky Dublin shoreline, so called because of the water depth.• They manned the towers and bastions and the great gates were shut fast.• Silly though it may have seemed at first, these all-male secret societies are bastions of extraordinary power and influence.• The bureaucrats in their Brussels bastion wrongly presumed that bigger is better.• Its empire had collapsed, its protective ring of island bastions smashed, its people on the verge of starvation.• Male bastions like the pub, the football stadium and the military have been stormed.• No Socialist bastion remained intact, no government minister or party leader unthreatened.• In colonial times, Western missionaries would dash off to bastions of other faiths to preach the Gospel.bastion of• The region is a bastion of right-wing Republicanism.Origin bastion (1500-1600) French bastille “strong building, castle”, from Old Provençal bastida, from bastir “to build” 