internment

noun

in·​tern·​ment in-ˈtərn-mənt How to pronounce internment (audio)
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

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
None of the internment camp players made it to Major League Baseball, but George Omachi, who played for the Denson All-Stars at the Jerome War Relocation Center in Denson, Arkansas, eventually became a scout for the league. Rachel Ng, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2025 More than 100,000 people of Japanese decent were sent to internment camps, which the federal government formally apologized for in 1988. Nicole Brown Chau, CBS News, 26 Mar. 2025 The law has been used just a handful of times in the past, most recently as the legal basis for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, 21 Mar. 2025 One recently invoked authority, the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, was last used to justify the internment of 120,000 Japanese in World War II, approximately 80,000 of whom were U.S. citizens. Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for internment

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of internment was in 1850

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Cite this Entry

“Internment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/internment. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

internment

noun
in·​tern·​ment
in-ˈtərn-mənt,
ˈin-ˌtərn-
: the act of interning : the state of being interned

More from Merriam-Webster on internment

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