bulwark means A defensive wall or rampart. It carries an Arena rating of 1677, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, bulwark ranks #289 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #661 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,537 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,579 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
bulwark is pronounced /ˈbʊl.wək/.
Why “bulwark” is a great word
A defensive wall or rampart, or any person or thing serving as a principal defense or safeguard. From Middle English *bulwerk*, from Middle Dutch *bolwerk* or Middle Low German *bolwerk*, a compound of *bole* ('tree trunk') and *work* ('structure, fortification'), first attested in English circa 1418. Unlike 'rampart,' which specifies a fortification's raised earthen wall, or 'safeguard,' which implies a procedural or legal precaution, a bulwark is a substantial, foundational barrier. It is the oak-beamed sea wall taking the full force of the storm surge, the steadfast friend standing unflinching before calumny, the last unshaken principle in a collapsing moral order—the stubborn, material refusal to let something precious be washed away.
Etymology
From Middle English bulwerk, from Middle Dutch bolwerk, bolwerc and Middle Low German bolwerk, equivalent to bole (“tree trunk”) + work. Cognate with German Bollwerk, Danish bolværk, Swedish bålverk, Dutch bolwerk. Doublet of boulevard (from French boulevard, from Dutch); cognate with Portuguese and Spanish baluarte and Italian baluardo.
noun
- A defensive wall or rampart.
- A defense or safeguard.e.g.“The royal navy of England hath ever been its greatest defence, […] the floating bulwark of the island.” — 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
- A breakwater.
- The planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of seas washing over the gunwales and people being washed overboard.e.g.“Entering that gable-ended Spouter-Inn, you found yourself in a wide, low, straggling entry with old-fashioned wainscots, reminding one of the bulwarks of some condemned old craft.” — 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 11:
- Any means of defence or security.e.g.“The party stalwarts constitute the bulwark that ensures the president's term of office.”
verb
- To fortify something with a wall or rampart.
- To provide protection of defense for something.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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