oubliette
Prison with trapdoor
An oubliette is a dungeon accessible only through a trapdoor in the ceiling—a place where prisoners were dropped and forgotten.
The word comes from French for "to forget." It appears mostly in historical fiction and fantasy: The castle's oubliette held the bones of forgotten enemies.
Figuratively, any place or situation where people or things are abandoned and neglected: The proposal languished in a bureaucratic oubliette.
Fortified medieval residence
- fortressHeavily defended military structure
- towerTall slender edifice
- moatDefensive water ditch
- keepRetain or fortified tower
torture · feudal · dungeon · stronghold · rampart · portcullis · drawbridge · turret
Basic unit of life
- pitFruit's hard seed
- keepRetain or fortified tower
- gaolPlace of incarceration
- donjonCastle's fortified central tower
undercroft · catacomb · crypt · chamber · labyrinth · subterranean · dank · gloom
Narrow vertical passage
- pitFruit's hard seed
- trapdoorHinged floor panel
- verticalAt right angles groundward
- narrowOf small width
cylindrical · stone · vaulted · hatch · grate · drop · windowless · lightless
castle
Fortified medieval residence
keep · torture · feudal · dungeon · stronghold · rampart · portcullis · drawbridge · turret · battlement
cell
Basic unit of life
donjon · undercroft · catacomb · crypt · chamber · labyrinth · subterranean · dank · gloom · trapdoor
shaft
Narrow vertical passage
narrow · cylindrical · stone · vaulted · hatch · grate · drop · windowless · lightless · inaccessible
imprisonment
Legal detention in jail
- captivityState of being confined
- isolationComplete separation from others
- incarcerationConfinement in jail
detention · seclusion · solitary · enclosure · internment · custody · holding · cage · shackles · restraint
abandoned
Left behind completely
- neglectedNot given proper attention
- forsakenCompletely abandoned or discarded
- erasedRemoved by rubbing
lost · discarded · vanished · overlooked · ignored · unremembered · cast-off · disposed · hidden · secret
- castleskeep, moat, drawbridge, dungeon, turret
- captivitycaptive, prisoner, detained, imprisoned, incarcerated
- castle partsmoat, keep, drawbridge, battlement, tower
- confinementcell, cage, prison, jail, imprisonment
- dungeondungeon, cell bars, torture chamber, chains, prison cell
- imprisonmentprison, jail, prisoners, cells, captivity
oublietteopen door
Barrier removed for entry
freedom · exit · open field · sanctuary · refuge
oubliettememorial
Thing preserving remembrance
monument · shrine · mausoleum · hall of fame · cenotaph
oubliettetower
Tall slender edifice
belvedere · observation deck · rooftop terrace · open courtyard · atrium