citadel

 

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citadel

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From French citadelle, from Italian cittadella, diminutive of città (“city”), from Latin cīvitās.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪtədəl/, /ˈsɪtədɛl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

citadel (plural citadels)

1. A strong fortress that sits high above a city.
   • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods‎^[1], London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 1:

     In the city’s midst the gleaming marble of a thousand steps climbed to the citadel where arose four pinnacles beckoning to heaven, and midmost between the pinnacles there stood the dome, vast, as the gods had dreamed it.

2. (sometimes figurative) A stronghold or fortified place.
   • 1836, Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, The American in England, page 269:

     Intrenched within the citadel of our apartment, and cheered by the comfortings of a coal fire, we passed the day in letter-writing, conversation, or gazing from the sheltered security of our windows upon the agitated sea […]

3. An armoured portion of a warship, housing important equipment.
   • 2000, Lincoln P. Paine, Warships of the World to 1900:

     Twenty-two of these — eleven per broadside — were on the main deck within a central citadel, essentially an armor-protected box in the middle of the ship. Also within the citadel were four 110-pdr. breech-loaders.

4. A Salvation Army meeting place.

• fortress, bastion, stronghold, bulwark

• dactile, deltaic, dialect, edictal, lactide

Borrowe from Middle French citadelle, from Italian cittadella, diminutive of città (“city”), from Latin cīvitās.

• IPA^(key): /ˌsi.taːˈdɛl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ci‧ta‧del
• Rhymes: -ɛl

citadel f (plural citadellen or citadels, diminutive citadelletje n)

1. citadel

• dialect