internment

American  

[in-turn-muhnt] / ɪnˈtɜrn mənt /

noun

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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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

In 1942 he entered one of the government’s Japanese internment camps.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 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

Repatriated to Amsterdam, Elfriede - who was known as Fritzi - married Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank, who had also managed to survive internment by the Nazis.

From BBC • Jan. 4, 2026

The use of this ancient wartime power, which was only used three times before, and grievously abused in the case of the Japanese and Italian American internment, is an attack on common sense.

From Salon • May 2, 2025

I wanted to declare myself in some different way, and—old enough to be marked by the internment but still too young for the full impact of it to cow me—I wanted in.

From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston

Related Words

• bondage
• confinement
• custody
• imprisonment
• incarceration
• slavery