concentration camp
noun
a guarded compound for the detention or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, political opponents, etc., especially any of the camps established by the Nazis prior to and during World War II for the confinement and persecution of prisoners.
Origin of concentration camp
1900–05, applied orig. to camps where noncombatants were placed during the Boer War
Words nearby concentration camp
concent,
concenter,
concentrate,
concentrated,
concentration,
concentration camp,
concentration cell,
concentration gradient,
concentrative,
concentre,
concentric
British Dictionary definitions for concentration camp
concentration camp
noun
a guarded prison camp in which nonmilitary prisoners are held, esp one of those in Nazi Germany in which millions were exterminated
Cultural definitions for concentration camp
concentration camp
A place for assembling and confining political prisoners and enemies of a nation. Concentration camps are particularly associated with the rule of the Nazis in Germany, who used them to confine millions of Jews (see also Jews) as a group to be purged from the German nation. Communists, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other persons considered undesirable according to Nazi principles, or who opposed the government, were also placed in concentration camps and eventually executed in large groups. (See Holocaust.)