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
David RemnickShe ended up dying in a concentration camp, just a few months before she would have been liberated.—Marilyn Reynolds
Marilyn ReynoldsThe 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
Anna Tomforde et al.Cite this Entry
“Concentration camp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/concentration%20camp. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share