concentration camp

noun

: a place where large numbers of people (such as prisoners of war, political prisoners, refugees, or the members of an ethnic or religious minority) are detained or confined under armed guard
used especially in reference to camps created by the Nazis in World War II for the internment and persecution of Jews and other prisoners
The Nazi soldiers hauled [Mordechai] Strigler off to a concentration camp, and carved swastikas into his cheeks and forehead with a razor blade. Over the next five years, he was sent from one concentration camp or slave-labor camp to another.David Remnick
She ended up dying in a concentration camp, just a few months before she would have been liberated.Marilyn Reynolds
The V2 killed thousands of British civilians while 20,000 concentration camp inmates died as slave labourers during its manufacture in the closing stages of the second world war.Anna Tomforde et al.
see also death camp

Examples of concentration camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The survivor, who helps keep the history of the Holocaust alive by sharing his story of surviving the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic, praised Princess Kate and Princes William for helping to keep Holocaust history in younger generations’ minds. Janine Henni, People.com, 27 Jan. 2025 Auschwitz commemorations World leaders are gathering in Poland today to mark 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Alexandra Banner, CNN, 27 Jan. 2025 The killing at Auschwitz stopped on January 27, 1945, the day the Red Army liberated the concentration camp. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Jan. 2025 The Nazis regarded their ghettos as temporary concentration camps, and starving the Jews engaged in slave labor there was official policy. Martin Kimel, Baltimore Sun, 26 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for concentration camp 

Word History

First Known Use

1901, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of concentration camp was in 1901

Dictionary Entries Near concentration camp

Cite this Entry

“Concentration camp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concentration%20camp. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

Kids Definition

concentration camp

noun
: a camp where persons (as prisoners of war, political prisoners, or refugees) are detained

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