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 of internment

• captivity
• incarceration
• imprisonment
• confinement
• 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

In wartime Los Angeles, with Pearl Harbor still fresh in people's minds, and 120,000 Japanese Americans banished to internment camps, paranoia ran deep. —David Alvarado, Time, 15 Dec. 2025

Human rights groups say, however, that China detained more than 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps from 2017 to 2019. —Jasmin Malik Chua, Sourcing Journal, 11 Dec. 2025

In Australia, the deportees were placed in an internment camp in New South Wales. —Literary Hub, 9 Dec. 2025

Bischof says the social history map also shows Japanese internment camps on the west coast. —Jackie Northam, NPR, 7 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for internment

• adjournment
• attornment
• concernment
• discernment

Kids Definition

internment

noun

in·​tern·​ment

in-ˈtərn-mənt, 

ˈin-ˌtərn-

: the act of interning : the state of being interned