internment
Americannoun
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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.
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the state of being interned; confinement.
Etymology
Origin of internment
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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.
At the time, China repeatedly rejected accusations that it was keeping Uyghurs in internment camps.
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
Before their internment, most of them came from poverty or jail before being enticed, or tricked, into fighting for Russia as mercenaries or on the promise of release from prison.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025
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
Today, under the law of war, civilians are supposed to have protections, including against citizenship- or identity-based detentions or internment, as well as against forced repatriation.
From Slate • Mar. 20, 2025
But there is no escaping the fact that our internment accelerated the process, made it happen so suddenly it was almost tangible.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
