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

Though ostracized in their time, people who resisted internment are now seen as civil-rights pioneers. —Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026

The Chinese government launched a brutal crackdown in Xinjiang starting in 2017, sweeping a million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other predominantly Muslim ethnicities into prisons and internment camps. —ABC News, 16 Apr. 2026

Previous seasons of The Terror focused on (first) a British naval expedition stuck in the ice while searching for the Northwest Passage and (second) haunting events in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. —Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 15 Apr. 2026

Season 5 begins with Hughie, Frenchie (Tomer Capone) and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) imprisoned in one of Vought’s internment camps, with Homelander set to execute them. —Jordan Moreau, Variety, 8 Apr. 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