internship

American  

[in-turn-ship] / ˈɪn tɜrnˌʃɪp /

noun

• internships
  plural

1. the state or condition of being an intern.

2. the period during which a person serves as an intern.

3. any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession.

   an internship for management trainees.

4. a position as a participant in such a program.

   She has accepted an internship in a law firm.

5. any period of time during which a beginner acquires experience in an occupation, profession, or pursuit.

   She had a long internship before starting her own recording studio.

---

internship British  

/ ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp /

noun

1. the position of being an intern or the period during which a person is an intern

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• internships
  plural

Etymology

Origin of internship

First recorded in 1900–05; intern ¹ + -ship

Explanation

An internship is a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, and it can be paid or unpaid. If you want to go into publishing, you might have to take an internship before you are qualified for an actual job. To intern means "to pass inside something," and when you have an internship, it's like you've temporarily gotten permission to be inside a workplace. If you're just completing your medical training, then the next stage is to get a medical internship, in which you are supervised by more experienced doctors. Sometimes your internship is part of your "residency," your first hospital job.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

internship internships

Clemens Ries, who had recently joined the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry for an internship as he approached the end of his biology degree, took on the challenge.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

She says she earned co-workers’ confidence by boosting key engagement metrics in the first month of her internship.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Graduates themselves ranked personal referrals and internship experience as more decisive in securing employment than the degree itself.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

Talbott, meanwhile, completed his own Live Nation internship before getting the opportunity to work as a back-of-house assistant on Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s 2025 Grand National Tour.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

I thought this internship would be more hands-on.

From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks

Nooks Chief Executive Daniel Lee says the business trip was a testament to Kusmirek’s ability but also indicative of a broader shift in how companies view internships.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

That jump underscores the role of internships as test drives for real jobs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Among students who had completed paid internships and applied for jobs, 55% had received at least one offer.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 4, 2026

She recently secured two internships through video interviews.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

One of my internships was at The Phoenix, a weekly newspaper run out of a dingy storefront on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Brooklyn, near the old Ex-Lax factory.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls