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

Walz ordered the flags to fly at half-staff immediately until sunset on the day of Amor's internment. —Riley Moser, CBS News, 6 Mar. 2026

Reynolds order will keep flags lowered until the day of internment for the soldiers. —Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register, 5 Mar. 2026

Some early border fences, which went up immediately after the end of the Second World War, were taken from Japanese internment camps; after the war, the Border Patrol received surplus airplanes to make patrolling easier. —Garrett M. Graff, New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2026

Fewer internment survivors remain each year. —Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 19 Feb. 2026

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