internment

noun

in·​tern·​ment in-ˈtərn-mənt How to pronounce internment (audio)
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

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Japanese internment camps have been transformed into museums. Cy Neff, USA TODAY, 25 Dec. 2024 Instead, such measures will disrupt our economy, raise our living costs, create internment camps to hold immigrants in the U.S. because receiving countries will not accept them, and fuel instability abroad, leading to even more immigration pressures at our borders. Andy J. Semotiuk, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024 Hypothetical threats to national security led to thousands of Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. Shivani Parikh, New York Daily News, 8 Dec. 2024 At the same time, the United States and Western allies have accused Xi of overseeing widespread human rights abuses, even claims of genocide, against the nation's Uyghurs through the use of mass internment camps, a charge the Chinese leader and his government have vehemently denied. Stephan Pechdimaldji, Newsweek, 14 Dec. 2024 See all Example Sentences for internment 

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of internment was in 1850

Dictionary Entries Near internment

Cite this Entry

“Internment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/internment. Accessed 5 Jan. 2025.

Kids Definition

internment

noun
in·​tern·​ment
in-ˈtərn-mənt,
ˈin-ˌtərn-
: the act of interning : the state of being interned

More from Merriam-Webster on internment

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