intern

SayIN-turnUS/ˈɪntɝn//ˈɪntɜːn/

As an adjectivein-TURN

Pluralinterns

Verbinterns, interning, interned

8 meanings of intern

Practice

1
nouncountable
A student or new graduate who works at a job to learn skills in a field they want to enter.
Like a new player who joins a team to practice and learn before the big games.
The summer intern spent her first week learning how the office worked.
Each intern shadows a senior staff member for the first month.
Similartrainee, apprentice
2
verbintransitive
To work at a job, often unpaid, in order to gain experience and training in a field.
Like helping out at a shop for free just to learn how the work is done.
She decided to intern at a local newspaper over the summer.
He hopes to intern with a design studio after graduation.
Similartrain, apprentice
Note
3
nouncountable
A new doctor who works in a hospital as the last stage of their medical training.
Like a student teacher who runs a real class while an experienced teacher watches.
The intern checked on patients every few hours during her night shift.
A hospital intern often works long, tiring hours.
4
Sayin-TURNUS/ɪnˈtɝn/UK/ɪnˈtɜːn/
verbtransitive
To put someone in prison, usually without a trial.
Like locking someone away without first asking a judge if it is fair.
The government chose to intern hundreds of people during the war.
Soldiers came to intern the protesters without any trial.
Similardetain, imprison, confine, incarcerate, hold
Oppositerelease, free
Note
5
nouncountable
Someone who is held in a camp or prison, by force or by choice.
Each intern at the camp received a daily ration of bread.
The interns were allowed to write letters home once a month.
Similardetainee, prisoner, inmate, captive
Note
6
Sayin-TURNUS/ɪnˈtɝn/UK/ɪnˈtɜːn/
verbtransitive
To hold foreign soldiers who enter the country during a war, keeping them within set limits.
The neutral country chose to intern the foreign pilots who landed on its soil.
Border guards moved to intern the soldiers who crossed the river.
Similardetain, confine, hold
Oppositerelease
Note
7
Sayin-TURNUS/ɪnˈtɝn/UK/ɪnˈtɜːn/
verbtransitive
To keep a single shared copy of a value so the same thing is not stored many times.
Like keeping one copy of a popular book in a library instead of buying the same book hundreds of times.
The compiler will intern each repeated word to save memory.
Programs often intern common strings so they share one copy.
Note

Less common meaning

8
adjectivearchaic
Found or happening on the inside of something.
The old text described the intern parts of the machine.
Man was made after Gods image, which must be understood of the intern graces of the Soule
1640, James Howell, ΔΕΝΔΡΟΛΟΓΊΑ [DENDROLOGIA]. Dodona’s GroveHere, intern means inside, found within the soul.
Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 4–8

From French interner, from interne meaning "inner," from Latin internus meaning "within."

Meanings 1–3

From French interne meaning "inner," from Latin internus ("within"), from inter meaning "between."