internment

noun

in·​tern·​ment in-ˈtərn-mənt How to pronounce internment (audio)
ˈin-ˌtərn-
plural internments
: the act of interning someone or the state of being interned
His parents had never told him about the exclusion laws, or the internment of Japanese-Americans, and the subject had not come up in his textbooks.Timothy Egan
Even in the midst of betrayal and the resulting alienation experienced in the internment, there exists the unnegotiable state of human bonds and possibility for reconciliation.Fumitaka Matsuoka
… an American who spent World War II with his parents in an internment camp.Philip Siekman

Examples of internment in a Sentence

the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during World War II is one of the more shameful chapters in United States history
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Their survival is dependent on local taxes and fees for opening or closing gravesites and providing internment rights. Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 23 Oct. 2025 My grandparents not talking about their experience being sent to a Japanese American internment camp during World War II, and then also my mom never talking about her older sister, who passed away before I was born. Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 23 Oct. 2025 Beginning with the Haitian internment in 1991, Washington seized on Guantánamo’s ambiguous sovereignty to illegally and indefinitely detain asylum-seekers. Miriam Pensack, The Dial, 30 Sep. 2025 In recent weeks, the National Park Service has removed signs referencing climate change, slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the massacre of Native Americans from multiple parks and historic sites around the country. Outside, 26 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for internment

Word History

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of internment was in 1850

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Cite this Entry

“Internment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/internment. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

Kids Definition

internment

noun
in·​tern·​ment
in-ˈtərn-mənt,
ˈin-ˌtərn-
: the act of interning : the state of being interned

More from Merriam-Webster on internment

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