Words / C1

in-TURNM-uh-nt/ɪnˈtɜːnmənt/

Internment is the confinement of people, usually in large numbers and without ordinary trial, often in wartime: internment camps, mass internment. Detention is the wider legal twin; a locked staff room is still not a lawful store for scripts if the log is blank.

Meaning

The act of holding people in prison or a camp, especially in wartime, without trial.

Examples

• “Internment is a legal and historical file; a film still is not a charge sheet.”
• “Internment is a political holding; scripts still need a sealed room and a log, not a locked kitchen.”
• “Detention is the legal twin. Confinement is wider. A kitchen is a room. A seal and a name are custody. Lock the proper store; sign the bag in.”

Good to know

Mass confinement without ordinary trial. Close: detention. A locked kitchen ≠ a script store.

Near in meaning

detention, confinement

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