bas·tion

[bas-chuhn, -tee-uhn]
noun
1.
Fortification. a projecting portion of a rampart or fortification that forms an irregular pentagon attached at the base to the main work.
2.
a fortified place.
3.
anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc.: a bastion of solitude; a bastion of democracy.

Origin:
1590–1600; < Middle French < Italian bastione, equivalent to Upper Italian bastí(a) bastion, orig., fortified, built (cognate with Italian bastita, past participle of bastire to build < Germanic; see baste1) + -one augmentative suffix

bas·tion·ar·y [bas-chuh-ner-ee] , adjective
bas·tioned, adjective


2. fortress, fort, bulwark, stronghold, citadel.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Bastion is a GRE word you need to know.
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a method of closing a debate and causing an immediate vote to be taken on the question.
willing to sell one's influence in return for a bribe
Collins
World English Dictionary
bastion (ˈbæstɪən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a projecting work in a fortification designed to permit fire to the flanks along the face of the wall
2.  any fortified place
3.  a thing or person regarded as upholding or defending an attitude, principle, etc: the last bastion of opposition
 
[C16: from French, from earlier bastillon bastion, from bastilleBastille]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

bastion
1560s, from M.Fr. bastillon, dim. of O.Fr. bastille "fortress, tower, fortified, building," from O.Prov. bastir "build," originally "make with bast" (see baste (1)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
It consisted of a fortified town and a defensive bastion.
Yet it is unlikely that that bastion of wealth and privilege can last much
  longer in its present state.
Traditional broadcast radio, the last bastion of analog entertainment
  technology, sees a bright future for itself.
Some of his shells began to damage the traverse shielding the magazine in the
  northwest bastion.
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