Skip to main content
POW camp

POW camp

5 4.3
A camp that holds soldiers captured during a war
  • noun
  • /pi oʊ dʌbəl ju kæmp/
translation icon : campo de prisioneros de guerra
  • In Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, the Department of National Defence maintained a 150-man POW camp at Whitewater Lake.
  • Japanese POW camp
  • German POW camp
  • North Vietnamese POW camp

But he told us that there was an American POW camp that was in that Target box.

Examples

  • I have seen a great commonality among American soldiers who were survivors of the Japanese POW camps.

    Blog text (4)
  • In December, Kanaya arrives at a POW camp near Warsaw, Poland.

  • But he told us that there was an American POW camp that was in that Target box.

  • You cannot begin to compare what went on in a foreign POW camp 30 years ago...

  • Several years ago, I discovered that German POW camps were located in the U.S. during World War II.

    Blog text (15)
  • Just read some of the accounts from POW camps run by the Japanese, Russians, and Nazis.

    Blog text (30)
  • His plane was shot down over occupied France, and he spent two years in a German POW camp, but my uncle was never afraid to fly.

    Blog text (29)
  • East of Winnipeg, there were six POW camps on Lake of the Woods.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Finally, Seefeld was captured and lodged with thousands of other Germans in a POW camp.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Many soldiers were detained at the POW camp during the war, facing harsh conditions.

Synonyms

prison camp
vsPOW camp
26 5.3

A camp where guards keep people against their will, often during war

detains only captured enemy soldiers rather than other detainees
internment camp
vsPOW camp
10 7.6

A place where people are held under guard during war or for political reasons

holds only captured enemy soldiers rather than civilians or political detainees
stockade
vsPOW camp
7 8.3

A guarded camp where prisoners are kept in harsh conditions

detains only captured enemy soldiers and not political detainees
4 3.2

A place that holds soldiers captured by the enemy during a war

is the shorter abbreviated form often used in informal or quick references

Surface Forms

POW camp singular
POW camps plural

Morphology

POW + camp

The meaning 'a camp where prisoners of war are detained' is directly and compositionally derivable from 'POW' (person taken prisoner in war) + 'camp' (site where people stay). This straightforward noun–noun compound follows regular English formation and has clear equivalents in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand it.

Etymology

POW camp comes from the short form POW for 'prisoner of war' and the word camp, meaning a place where people stay. Picture captured soldiers behind fences and guards; that image explains why it means 'a camp where prisoners of war are held' today.