internment

American  

[in-turn-muhnt] / ɪnˈtɜrn mənt /

noun

• internments
  plural

1. an act or instance of interning, or confining a person or ship to prescribed limits during wartime.

   the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

2. the state of being interned; confinement.

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internment British  

/ ɪnˈtɜːnmənt /

noun

1. 1. the act of interning or state of being interned, esp of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects

   2. ( as modifier )

      an internment camp

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• internments
  plural

Etymology

Origin of internment

First recorded in 1865–70; intern ² + -ment

Compare meaning

How does internment compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• interment vs. internment

Explanation

Internment means putting a person in prison or other kind of detention, generally in wartime. During World War II, the American government put Japanese-Americans in internment camps, fearing they might be loyal to Japan. Internment usually doesn’t involve a trial, so you're being held because someone thinks you might be dangerous, but there’s no proof. The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is now widely considered to have been a terrible mistake, in that the citizens who were detained — some for as long as four years — were not traitors, but loyal Americans, and their internment caused them considerable emotional and economic hardship. Internment comes from the Latin internus, “inward.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

internment internments

The 1994 case about the internment of Japanese American citizens is still relevant today as the Supreme Court has failed to fully contend with its legacy.

From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026

In California, language related to the internment of Japanese Americans at the Manzanar National Historic Site, as well as the history of Indigenous people in Death Valley and Muir Woods came under scrutiny.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026

Ms. Gage deals with it by visiting the remnants of a Japanese internment camp at Manzanar, Calif., and the research facility in Los Alamos, N.M., where U.S. government scientists built the atomic bomb.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026

The overt racism and grotesque unfairness of Japanese-American internment eventually provoked some degree of societal reckoning, if only years later.

From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2025

They’d been married at the Manzanar internment camp in a tar paper Buddhist chapel.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

People are more familiar with the incarceration of Japanese Americans, including U.S. citizens, but we still do remember the Alien Enemies Act internments as a shameful part of our history.

From Slate ● Mar. 20, 2025

"The section that will be used is occupied by the dead from a century ago and will not affect any recent internments," FWC said.

From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2024

Jay Tidmarsh, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, suggested the World War II internments as a possible comparable framework.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 10, 2021

This report was kept from the Supreme Court when it upheld the internments in 1944.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2021

The populace has not molested alien enemies, and their government has not indulged in wholesale internments of enemies’ subjects.

From The Note-Book of an Attaché Seven Months in the War Zone by Eric Fisher Wood

Related Words

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• confinement
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