work camp

noun

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Definition of work camp

: a camp for workers: such as

a : prison camp 1

b : a short-term group project in which individuals from one or more religious organizations volunteer their labor

See work camp defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of work camp from the Web

Tens of thousands of people accused of political crimes are in North Korea’s vast gulag of work camps and prisons, according to Amnesty International.

— matt stiles, latimes.com, "Will President Trump bring up North Korea's dreadful human rights record when he meets Kim Jong Un?," 11 June 2018
Erected in 1935 as a gulag work camp, Norilsk has grown into a nickel mining and smelting center.

— bridget alex, Discover Magazine, "Something Stirs: What Will Happen as Permafrost Thaws?," 15 May 2018
Unlike Samantha, Irina never received a response and her father was sent to a Siberian work camp.

— lorraine boissoneault, Smithsonian, "The Surprising Story of the American Girl Who Broke Through the Iron Curtain," 10 May 2018
The other would be to plead guilty to one count of felony hazing and 60 days in a county jail work camp.

— joe reedy, Sun-Sentinel.com, "FSU ends alcohol ban imposed on Greek organizations after death of student from South Florida," 29 Mar. 2018
The other would be to plead guilty to one count of felony hazing and 60 days in a county jail work camp.

— joe reedy, Sun-Sentinel.com, "FSU ends alcohol ban imposed on Greek organizations after death of student from South Florida," 29 Mar. 2018
In an interview in Pyongyang, the capital, just before his 2016 release, Bae told The Associated Press he was moved from the work camp to a hospital because of failing health and weight loss.

— eric talmadge, BostonGlobe.com, "Summit raises hope North Korea will release 3 US detainees," 13 Mar. 2018
Neither did Cardinal Simoni, who has encountered evil firsthand, surviving decades in prisons and work camps for practicing his faith under the Albanian Communist regime of Enver Hoxha.

— jason horowitz, New York Times, "‘Shut Up, Satan’: Rome Course Teaches Exorcism, Even by Cellphone," 19 Apr. 2018
Fifteen years before Phoenix's first Orthodox Jewish synagogue opened its doors, one of the congregation's founding families was smuggling Jews and other prisoners out of Holocaust-era work camps and battling Nazis as resistance fighters.

— jessica boehm, azcentral, "Founding family of Phoenix synagogue saved 1,500 people during the Holocaust," 12 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'work camp.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of work camp

1877

in the meaning defined above

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