Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday January 23, 2002
redoubt \rih-DOWT\ , noun:
1. A small and usually temporary defensive fortification.
2. A defended position or protective barrier.
3. A secure place of refuge or defense; a stronghold.
Evicting the intruders from their mountain redoubts with ground forces alone was beginning to look like a protracted and expensive task.
-- "Kashmir's violent spring", The Economist, May 29, 1999
First, Milosevic himself will be absent, apparently fearful of leaving his redoubt in Belgrade.
-- "Lessons of Balkans Applied to Kosovo", New York Times, February 1, 1999
Redoubt derives from French redoute, from Italian ridotto, from Latin reductus, "a refuge, a retreat," from reducere, "to lead or draw back," from re-, "back" + ducere, "to lead."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for redoubt
