outposts

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A small military camp or base set up far from the main force, often to watch an area or guard a border.

   Grammar: Countable: use a/an or a number, and the plural outposts: an outpost, three outposts.

   Patterns

   • a military outpost
   • an outpost on the border
   • set up an outpost

   Soldiers at the mountain outpost reported smoke on the far ridge.

   The army built a chain of outposts along the northern border.

   Supplies reach the outpost only twice a month.

2. 2nouncountable

   A small settlement or office of a company or organization in a distant place, far from its main center.

   Grammar: Countable and often followed by of: an outpost of the empire, a trading outpost.

   Patterns

   • a trading outpost
   • an outpost of something
   • a remote outpost

   The company opened a small outpost in the desert town to serve nearby farms.

   For centuries the island was a trading outpost for ships crossing the ocean.

   She spent two years working at the bank's outpost in a remote province.

3. 3nouncountablefigurative

   A place or group that is far from the main activity and feels isolated or on the edge of something.

   Grammar: Countable; often used figuratively with of: an outpost of civilization.

   Patterns

   • an outpost of something
   • a lonely outpost

   The tiny library felt like an outpost of learning in a town with no school.

   Their research station is an outpost of science in one of the coldest places on Earth.

Word forms

Common combinations

a military outpost

The map marks a military outpost near the river.

a remote outpost

Doctors travel by helicopter to this remote outpost.

set up an outpost

They set up an outpost to watch the valley.

a trading outpost

The harbor began as a trading outpost.

an outpost of empire

The fort was once an outpost of empire.

Synonyms and how they differ

base

A base is usually a larger, more permanent military site; an outpost is smaller and farther from the main force.

garrison

A garrison is the troops stationed in a place rather than the place itself, though it can also mean the fortified site.

settlement

Settlement is a general word for any place where people live; an outpost suggests distance from the main group.

Opposites

Word family

outpost noun

The singular form, meaning one such camp or distant branch.

Commonly confused: outposts or outpost?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “outposts”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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