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Meaning of Fastness | Babel Free

Noun CEFR B2
ˈfɑːs(t)nəs

Definitions

  1. The quality or state of being fast (in various senses).
  2. The quality or state of being strongly attached; firmness, secureness, tenacity.
  3. The ability of a dye to withstand fading.
  4. The quality or state of moving quickly; quickness, rapidity, swiftness.
  5. The quality or state of having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.
  6. Of a fortress or other place: the quality or state of being secure from access or attack; safety, security.
  7. The quality or state of being firm, hard, or solid; firmness, hardness, solidity.
  8. Something that is fast, or that causes someone or something to be fast (in various senses).
  9. A fortified or secure place; a fortress, a stronghold.
  10. Something used to fasten or tie; a fastener or fastening.

Equivalents

العربية الثبات
Deutsch Feste Festung
Suomi sikeys
Gàidhlig daingneach
Italiano solidità
Српски hitrost хитрост

Examples

“[T]he thing, as it is, having firſt taken vp her ſtand in the memory, and there by the way of knowledge and witting, imprinted it-ſelfe, it were hard it ſhould not repreſent it ſelfe to the imagination, diſplacing and ſupplanting falſehood, which therein can have no ſuch footing, or ſetled faſtneſſe: […]”
“[T]his is the ſure, infallible Teſt of Love, that the Meaſure of its Strength is to be taken by the Faſtneſs of its Hold.”
“[Frog:] Why are all of us fleein'? What dire peril threatens our sylvan fastness? [Bug:] Just run! Your fastness shouldn't be too slow.”
“But now his cruelty ſo ſore ſhe drad, / That to thoſe fennes for faſtneſſe ſhe did fly, / And there her ſelfe did hyde from his hard tyranny.”
“The Foes had left the faſtneſs of their Place, / Prevail'd in Fight, and had his Men in Chace.”
“Which was brought to paſſe I beleue, […] by a good way of Epitome, in binding him ſelfe to tranſlate meros Atticos Oratores, and ſo to bring his ſtyle, from all lowſe groſneſſe, to ſoch firme faſtnes in latin, as is in Demoſthenes in Greeke.”
“[I]f the VVelſh compelled by famine ventred out of their ſtrengthes or faſtneſſes, in or about Snovvdon, the Garriſon Souldiers of Gannocke vvere ready to intercept and kill them; […]”
“[T]he ſlaves that yet remained in the faſtneſſes of Jamaica, attached to the Spaniſh, and hoſtile to the Engliſh ſettlers, continued to be troubleſome, and at times formidable.”
“The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little or no likelihood of their being discovered by other tribes.”
“When she came to know writers it was like adventuring upon a stage which till then she had known only from the other side of the footlights. She saw them dramatically, and really seemed herself to live a larger life because she entertained them and visited them in their fastnesses.”
“[…] though cut glass was nothing new in the nineties, it was then especially busy reflecting the dazzling light of fashion from the Back Bay to the fastnesses of the Middle West.”
“When we read Chaucer, we are floated up to him insensibly on the current of our ancestors' lives, […] But the Greeks remain in a fastness of their own.”
“On the morning of July 31, the mountain rose spangled in the summer sun 2,300 feet above Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli. Strapping on three oxygen tanks, the two men faced toward K2's last fastness.”
“Their mission in life was to tote bituminous coal out of the mountain fastness of West Virginia and move it west to the gateways of Deepwater, Columbus and Toledo and east to tidewater at Hampton Roads.”
“"I have many servants in my mountain fastness, and all the riches I could dream of."”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.
See all B2 English words →

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