different between fortification vs fastness

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French fortification, from Late Latin fortificatio, fortificationem, from fortifico, from Latin fortis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f??(?)t?f??ke???n/, /?f??(?)t?f??ke???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

fortification (countable and uncountable, plural fortifications)

1. The act of fortifying; the art or science of fortifying places to strengthen defence against an enemy.
2. That which fortifies; especially, a work or works erected to defend a place against attack; a fortified place; a fortress; a fort; a castle.
   • “[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic? […] ”

3. An increase in effectiveness, as by adding ingredients.
   • 1979, Kiplinger's Personal Finance (volume 33, number 7, July 1979, page 47)

     Compare the nutrition information label of a regular ready-to-eat fortified cereal with that of a presweetened brand and you'll note that, although the sweetened one's sugar content is higher, the fortification is virtually identical.

4. A jagged pattern sometimes seen during an attack of migraine.

Derived terms

• biofortification

Related terms

• fortify

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin fortificatio, fortificationem, from fortifico, from Latin fortis.

Pronunciation

Noun

fortification f (plural fortifications)

1. fortification (all meanings)

Related terms

• fortifier

Further reading

• “fortification” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Middle English fastnesse, festnesse (“firmness; certainty; stronghold; firmament”), from Old English fæstnes, fæstnis (“firmness; stronghold; firmament”), equivalent to fast +? -ness.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fæstn?s/, [?fæsn?s]
• (trap–bath split) IPA^(key): /?f??stn?s/, [?f??sn?s]

Noun

fastness (countable and uncountable, plural fastnesses)

1. A secure or fortified place; a stronghold, a fortress.
   • 1611, John Speed, The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of the Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans, London, Book 9, Chapter 9, p. 528,^[1]

     [...] if the Welsh compelled by famine ventred out of their strengthes or fastnesses, in or about Snowdon, the Garrison Souldiers of Gannocke were ready to intercept and kill them [...]

   • 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, p. xxxviii,^[2]

     [...] the 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.
2. The state of being fast.
   1. Firmness, security.
   2. Rapidity, swiftness.
3. The ability of a dye to withstand fading.

Derived terms

• colorfastness
• colour fastness, colourfastness

Translations

References

• “fastness”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.