Devil's Island

American

noun

one of the Safety Islands, off the coast of French Guiana: former French penal colony.

Devil's Island British

noun

French name: Île du Diable. one of the three Safety Islands, off the coast of French Guiana: formerly a leper colony, then a French penal colony from 1895 until 1938. Area: less than 2 sq km (1 sq mile)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Despite a lack of evidence, Dreyfus was convicted of treason, sentenced to life imprisonment in the infamous Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana and publicly stripped of his rank.

From Barron's • Nov. 18, 2025

Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is the former port of entry to the infamous Devil's Island penal colony, where 70,000 convicts from mainland France were sent between 1852 and 1954.

From BBC • May 19, 2025

Devil’s Island in French Guiana, immortalized in the film “Papillon,” closed in 1946.

From Washington Times • Apr. 9, 2022

Poetry seems to be the Devil’s Island of literature.

From New York Times • Aug. 6, 2021

Along with a partner, he’d escaped from Devil’s Island, but he’d failed to make it to South America.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023