internment
noun
Internment — the confinement of persons, historically extended to property
Definition
Placing private property in the custody of an officer of the law
In depth
Internment, in this older and now less common sense, named the placing of private property in the custody of an officer of the law, though the word's overwhelmingly dominant modern meaning concerns the confinement of persons, particularly during wartime, often based on nationality or perceived threat rather than individual wrongdoing. This historical association makes the word's property-related sense largely obsolete.
Origin
The word descends from French interner, to confine within, formed from intra (within). Its profound historical association with the wartime confinement of civilian populations, including notably the internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, has rendered the word's older property-related sense almost entirely forgotten, the human rights dimension now utterly dominant in contemporary understanding.
Usage examples
"Historical legal texts occasionally used internment to describe the impoundment of property alongside its more familiar application to persons."
"Internment of civilians during wartime remains one of history's most painful and widely studied human rights violations."
"Scholars distinguish carefully between internment, often based on group identity, and imprisonment following individual conviction of a crime."
How to use it
Internment's sense regarding property is now essentially obsolete; the word's overwhelmingly dominant and important contemporary meaning concerns the wrongful confinement of people, a usage carrying immense historical and ethical weight that writers should handle with appropriate gravity and precision.
Related concepts
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