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
Timothy EganEven 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
Fumitaka Matsuoka… an American who spent World War II with his parents in an internment camp.—Philip Siekman
Philip SiekmanSynonyms
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
Human rights groups say Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities have faced a raft of human rights abuses in the region, including being placed in mass internment camps.
—Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, 5 Feb. 2025
The book’s horrors—climate catastrophe, internment camps, genocidal wars, high-tech surveillance—are too familiar to serve as prophecy.
—Adam Begley, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025
Human rights groups have accused China of detaining over 1 million Uyghurs in mass internment camps and engaging in systematic forced labor, torture, rape, and forced sterilization as part of a broader campaign of assimilation.
—Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 4 Feb. 2025
After taking office, Trump ordered military and immigration officials to be ready by Feb. 3 to implement the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used to justify internment camps for people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two.
—Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2025
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Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, 5 Feb. 2025
The book’s horrors—climate catastrophe, internment camps, genocidal wars, high-tech surveillance—are too familiar to serve as prophecy.
—Adam Begley, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2025
Human rights groups have accused China of detaining over 1 million Uyghurs in mass internment camps and engaging in systematic forced labor, torture, rape, and forced sterilization as part of a broader campaign of assimilation.
—Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 4 Feb. 2025
After taking office, Trump ordered military and immigration officials to be ready by Feb. 3 to implement the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, last used to justify internment camps for people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two.
—Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2025
See all Example Sentences for internment
Dictionary Entries Near internment
Cite this Entry
“Internment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/internment. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.
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