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.
My Documents Kevin Nguyen Penguin Random House, April As another Trump administration kicks into gear, there may be no better, or scarier, work to consider than Kevin Nguyen’s second novel, which sees the U.S. government set up internment camps for Vietnamese Americans. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 4 Jan. 2025 The cafe has been Asian-owned since it was founded in 1951 by a Japanese American couple, Paul and Kitty Kawakami, who had been confined to a U.S. internment camp out in California during World War II, even though they were born in the U.S., according to the Star archives. Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 2 Jan. 2025 He was later forced into an internment camp because of Executive Order 9066. Tracie Canada / Made By History, TIME, 1 Jan. 2025 Durgan had no issue with the use of naturalized citizens, his grandmother spent time in a Japanese internment camp in California during World War II. Pablo Maurer, The Athletic, 31 Dec. 2024 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

Dictionary Entries Near internment

Cite this Entry

“Internment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/internment. Accessed 22 Jan. 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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