internment

noun

in·​tern·​ment in-ˈtərn-mənt 

ˈin-ˌtərn-

plural internments

: the act of interning someone or the state of being interned

His parents had never told him about the exclusion laws, or the internment of Japanese-Americans, and the subject had not come up in his textbooks.

—Timothy Egan

Even in the midst of betrayal and the resulting alienation experienced in the internment, there exists the unnegotiable state of human bonds and possibility for reconciliation.

—Fumitaka Matsuoka

… an American who spent World War II with his parents in an internment camp.

—Philip Siekman

Synonyms

• captivity
• confinement
• immurement
• impoundment
• imprisonment
• incarceration
• prison

Examples of internment in a Sentence

the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II is one of the more shameful chapters in United States history

Recent Examples on the Web

After the war, most of the locals were placed in internment camps. —Monica Miller, NPR, 21 Sep. 2024

The Chinese government has put more than 1 million ethnic Uyghurs into mass internment camps in the country's northwest region, according to estimates by human rights groups. —Russell Contreras, Axios, 19 Sep. 2024

That there were politicians making concerted efforts to lock them up in internment camps. —Zack Sharf, Variety, 13 Sep. 2024

Bolton also claimed that Trump had encouraged Xi to go ahead with building Uyghur internment camps in Xinjiang. —Chad De Guzman, TIME, 11 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

internment

noun

in·​tern·​ment

in-ˈtərn-mənt,

ˈin-ˌtərn-

: the act of interning : the state of being interned