internment
Americannoun
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internments
plural
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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.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of internment
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How does internment compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.”
Vocabulary lists containing internment
Farewell to Manzanar
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They Called Us Enemy
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World War II
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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.
See Examples For:
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
In 1942 he entered one of the government’s Japanese internment camps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
An extract was handed to Mr Adams, in which it was written that a senior IRA member from Belfast had been released from internment to participate.
From BBC ● May 6, 2025
Like Jeanne Wakatski, my family was also stripped of everything we owned and placed in an internment camp.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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
In 1988, Congress formally apologized for the internments, and provided reparations checks of $20,000 to 82,000 victims.
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
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.
