concentration camp

noun

: a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard

—used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners

The Nazi soldiers hauled [Mordechai] Strigler off to a concentration camp, and carved swastikas into his cheeks and forehead with a razor blade. Over the next five years, he was sent from one concentration camp or slave-labor camp to another.

—David Remnick

She ended up dying in a concentration camp, just a few months before she would have been liberated.

—Marilyn Reynolds

The V2 killed thousands of British civilians while 20,000 concentration camp inmates died as slave labourers during its manufacture in the closing stages of the second world war.

—Anna Tomforde et al.

see also death camp

Examples of concentration camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Von Furstenberg has been most impacted by her mother, Liliane Halfin, a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland 18 months before von Furstenberg's birth. —Erin Jensen, USA TODAY, 25 June 2024

Along with covering von Furstenberg’s career in the fashion industry, her documentary also explores her family’s background, including her mother, Liliane Halfin, an Auschwitz survivor and a prisoner at at Poland concentration camp 18 months before von Furstenberg’s birth. —Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 25 June 2024

In a penitentiary, the boys face confinement, harassment, and acrimony similar to the dehumanization of a concentration camp. —Armond White, National Review, 19 June 2024

In Treasure, the costars play Holocaust survivor Edek and New York journalist Ruth, a father-daughter duo en route to Poland in 1991 to visit the sites from Edek’s past — including the Auschwitz concentration camp. —Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 16 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

concentration camp

noun

: a camp where persons (as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained