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

Primo Levi described how, in concentration camps, those who had suffered the longest sometimes met newcomers with something closer to cruelty than solidarity. — Paul Bloom, New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2026

During the first half of the movie, Coon wore hip pads and other body-shaping additions to make Rita seem more weighed down by her responsibility and the trauma of having been a child in a concentration camp. — Rebecca Ford, Vanity Fair, 6 Nov. 2026

Man’s Search for Meaning chronicles Frankl’s experience as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps. — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 26 Oct. 2026

Thousands of concentration camp inmates were also subjected to the practice. — Frannie Comstock, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Oct. 2026

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