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

Though his sister Margot ended up in Switzerland (and later came to America), their parents died at Auschwitz concentration camp. —Brian Truitt, USA Today, 9 Nov. 2025

These men helped secure victory in battles from Normandy to the Pacific and include soldiers who liberated Nazi concentration camps. —Michael Schneider, Variety, 4 Nov. 2025

The motto was introduced at the Dachau concentration camp in 1933 and was quickly adopted by other Nazi camps including Auschwitz. —Kate Reilly, NBC news, 1 Nov. 2025

They were confined to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. —Kate Sosin, Them., 31 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for concentration camp

• amp
• champ
• clamp
• cramp
• damp
• gamp
• lamp
• ramp
• samp
• scamp
• stamp
• tamp

Kids Definition

concentration camp

noun

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