What does internment mean?
Internment is the act of confining or detaining people, especially during wartime or under a government policy directed at people considered security threats. The term often describes custody outside the ordinary process of criminal conviction, so it need not imply that the confined person committed a crime. Its best-known historical uses include wartime detention of enemy aliens in Britain and the United States and the confinement of Japanese Americans in camps in the United States during World War II. More generally, it can mean imprisonment or prolonged confinement. In contemporary writing, internment is chiefly a formal historical, legal, or military term and should not be used as a casual synonym for any brief detention. Related forms include the verb intern and the noun internee. Recognizing the word helps distinguish administrative confinement or wartime detention from incarceration imposed as punishment after conviction.
nounThe imprisonment or confinement of people, especially those regarded as security threats during wartime or under government policy. It can also refer more generally to the act or policy of holding people in custody.
- Confinement or detention of people, especially during wartime or as a government security measure.
- The act or policy of confining or detaining people, particularly those considered threats to national security.
"The civilians were released from the internment camp after the war."
"Civilians were released from the internment camp after the war."
"Historians continue to debate the wartime confinement of Japanese Americans in the United States."
The plural is uncommon and refers to multiple instances or policies of confinement or detention.
"The records document several internments of suspected enemy aliens."
Internment can mean confinement without a criminal conviction—a stark reminder that detention and punishment are not always the same thing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Words that share this root
How internment is actually used
This is chiefly a formal historical, legal, and military term. It commonly carries a strong connotation of coercive state power and does not necessarily imply that the confined person was convicted of a crime.
Easily confused with internment
Internment means confinement or detention, whereas interment means the burial of a body, especially at a funeral.