Dictionary

concentration camp en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio

Etymology

From concentration + camp. In later use partly after German Konzentrationslager, itself a calque of the English term.

Meanings

1. A camp where troops are assembled, prior to combat or transport.
   • 1930, Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life, Chapter XIV The 21st Lancers… …journey forward by nine days' march to the advanced concentration camp just north of the Shabluka Cataract.
   • A concentration camp is a place, near the scene of intended operations or near an embarkation point, where troops are assembled for immediate use against the enemy or for transport to an over-sea theater of operations. 1913, General Staff Corps, Field Service Regulations, United States Army - Page 223
2. A camp where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners, prisoners of war, refugees etc., are detained for the purpose of confining them in one place, typically with inadequate or inhumane facilities.
   • In 1945, overseen by Alfred Hitchcock, a crack team of British film-makers went to Germany to document the horror of the concentration camps. 2015 January 9, The Guardian:
   • What we should be doing with China is understanding they are a superpower, they are a strong economy. We want to be working with them. We certainly don't want a Cold War. But we should be speaking out against human rights abuses. When you put into concentration camps, you know, or at least lock up, I don't know, a million Muslims there, somebody's got to speak out about that. 2019, Bernie Sanders, Full interview: Bernie Sanders meets with the Register's editorial board (12.6.19)DesMoines Register, 6 December, at 37:13
   • The state of the proletarian dictatorship is depicted by Trotsky as a huge permanent concentration camp in which the government exercises absolute power over every aspect of the citizens' lives and in particular decides how much work they shall do, of what kind and in what places. 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 512:
   • All Cubans (men, women, and children) were ordered to move into garrisoned Spanish towns or concentration camps. 1927, Charles E. Chapman, A History of the Cuban Republic, IV.81:
3. (figuratively) A situation of overcrowding and extremely harsh conditions.
   • The UN inspector stated that the Australian government's migrant detention facilities were in effect concentration camps.

Forms

Descendants

concentratiekamp · Konzentrationslager · koncentrationsläger · camp de concentration · KL · KZ

Hyponyms

extermination camp · internment camp · death camp

Translations (91)

it campo di concentramento (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · uk концентраці́йний та́бір (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ms kem tahanan (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · pt campo de concentração (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · be канцля́гер (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · tk konslager (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · cmn 集中營 /集中营 (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sv utrotningsläger (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · hu koncentrációs tábor (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ru концентрацио́нный ла́герь (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sk koncentrák m colloquial (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · da udryddelseslejr (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · gl campo de concentración (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ar مُعَسْكَر اِعْتِقَال (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sq kamp përqendrimi (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · af konsentrasiekamp (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · eo koncentrejo (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · lo ຄ້າຍກັກກັນ (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · fr camp de concentration (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ug جازا لاگېرى (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · id kamp konsentrasi (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · pl kacet (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · el στρατόπεδο συγκέντρωσης (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · yue 集中營 /集中营 (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · az konslager (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sk koncentračný tábor (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sv koncentrationsläger (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · tg лагерҳои консентратсионӣ (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · fy konsintraasjekamp (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · az konsentrasiya düşərgəsi (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ht kan konsantrasyon (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · uk концта́бір (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ko 정치범 수용소 (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · nb konsentrasjonsleir (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · et koonduslaager (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · nn utryddingsleir (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · tr toplama kampı (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · es concentracionario (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · be канцэнтрацы́йны ла́гер (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · nl concentratiekamp (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · vi trại tập trung (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · bg концентрацио́нен ла́гер (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ug يىغىۋېلىش لاگېرى (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · hi यातना शिविर (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ja 強制収容所 (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sl koncentracijsko taborišče (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · kk концентрациялық лагерь (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · uz kontslager (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · yi קאַצעט (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · de Konzentrationslager (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · hi बंदी शिविर (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · he מחנה ריכוז \ מַחֲנֵה רִכּוּז (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · cs koncentrák (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ro lagăr de concentrare (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · nn konsentrasjonsleir (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · es campo de concentración (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ga sluachampa géibhinn (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · de KZ (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · nb utryddelsesleir (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ru концла́герь (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · mk концентрацио́нен логор (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · lv koncentrācijas nometne (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · az həbs düşərgələri (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ar مُعْتَقَل (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · fa-ira اُرْدوگاهِ کارِ اِجْباری (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · be канцэнтрацы́йны ля́гер (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · fo týningarlega (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · kk концлагерь (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ky концлагерь (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · pl obóz koncentracyjny (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ug توپلاش لاگېرى (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ga campa géibhinn (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · hy համակենտրոնացման ճամբար (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · es campamento de internamiento (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · fi keskitysleiri (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · uz kontsentratsiyon lager (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · be канцла́гер (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · km បន្ទាយផ្ដុំជន (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · is útrýmingarbúðir (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · lt koncentracijos stovykla (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · th ค่ายกักกัน (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · cs koncentrační tábor (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · bg ко́нцла́гер (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ko 강제수용소 (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sh концентрациони логор (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ur بیگار کَیمْپ (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ca camp de concentració (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · da koncentrationslejr (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · sh koncentracioni logor (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · gd campa bàis (camp where large numbers of persons are detained) · ka საკონცენტრაციო ბანაკი (camp where large numbers of persons are detained)