FORTIFICATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fortification mean? 

• FORTIFICATION (noun)
  The noun FORTIFICATION has 3 senses:

1. defensive structure consisting of walls or mounds built around a stronghold to strengthen it

2. the art or science of strengthening defenses

3. the addition of an ingredient for the purpose of enrichment (as the addition of alcohol to wine or the addition of vitamins to food)

  Familiarity information: FORTIFICATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORTIFICATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Defensive structure consisting of walls or mounds built around a stronghold to strengthen it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fortification; munition

Hypernyms ("fortification" is a kind of...):

defence; defense; defensive structure (a structure used to defend against attack)

Meronyms (parts of "fortification"):

bulwark; rampart; wall (an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fortification"):

bastion (projecting part of a rampart or other fortification)

bunker; dugout (a fortification of earth; mostly or entirely below ground)

castle (a large building formerly occupied by a ruler and fortified against attack)

defilade (the arrangement of defensive fortifications to protect against enemy fire)

entrenchment; intrenchment (an entrenched fortification; a position protected by trenches)

escarp; escarpment; protective embankment; scarp (a steep artificial slope in front of a fortification)

fieldwork (a temporary fortification built by troops in the field)

lunette (temporary fortification like a detached bastion)

palisade (fortification consisting of a strong fence made of stakes driven into the ground)

breastwork; parapet (fortification consisting of a low wall)

redoubt ((military) a temporary or supplementary fortification; typically square or polygonal without flanking defenses)

stockade (fortification consisting of a fence made of a line of stout posts set firmly for defense)

Instance hyponyms:

Maginot Line (a fortification built before World War II to protect France's eastern border; initially considered to be impregnable, it was easily overrun by the German army in 1940)

Siegfried line (German fortifications facing the Maginot Line)

Derivation:

fortify (enclose by or as if by a fortification)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The art or science of strengthening defenses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("fortification" is a kind of...):

art; artistry; prowess (a superior skill that you can learn by study and practice and observation)

Derivation:

fortify (make strong or stronger)

fortify (prepare oneself for a military confrontation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The addition of an ingredient for the purpose of enrichment (as the addition of alcohol to wine or the addition of vitamins to food)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("fortification" is a kind of...):

enrichment (act of making fuller or more meaningful or rewarding)

Derivation:

fortify (make strong or stronger)

fortify (add alcohol to (beverages))

fortify (add nutrients to)

 Context examples 

I had gazed upon the fortifications and impediments that seemed to keep human beings from entering the citadel of nature, and rashly and ignorantly I had repined.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Fortification of dairy products with phytosterols and omega-3 fatty acids appears to constitute a suitable strategy for improving cardiometabolic risk biomarkers.

(Adequate intake of milk and dairy products in different life stages helps prevent chronic diseases, University of Granada)

It completely conveyed the idea of a man who had been born, not to say with a silver spoon, but with a scaling-ladder, and had gone on mounting all the heights of life one after another, until now he looked, from the top of the fortifications, with the eye of a philosopher and a patron, on the people down in the trenches.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was a wonderfully fine thing to have that lofty castle to myself, and to feel, when I shut my outer door, like Robinson Crusoe, when he had got into his fortification, and pulled his ladder up after him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)