intern
intern Lexical Profile
intern Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A student or recent graduate who works for a period of time at a company or organization, sometimes without pay, in order to gain practical work experience.
"The summer intern assisted the marketing team with social media campaigns and market research."
North American A recent medical school graduate receiving supervised practical training in a hospital before beginning a residency or licensed practice.
"The medical intern completed a grueling thirty-hour shift in the emergency department."
• verb
To work as an intern or trainee in order to gain practical professional experience.
"She plans to intern at a prominent architecture firm in Chicago this summer."
To confine or detain someone as a prisoner, especially for political or military reasons during wartime.
"During the conflict, the government decided to intern foreign nationals suspected of espionage."
Word Nuance & Usage
The stress changes according to part of speech and sense: the noun and the verb meaning 'to work as a trainee' are stressed on the first syllable (IN-tern), whereas the verb meaning 'to confine or detain' is stressed on the second syllable (in-TERN).
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from French 'interne' (meaning 'resident within a school or hospital'), from Latin 'internus' ('inward, internal'). The medical sense of a resident trainee doctor arose in the late 19th century and later broadened to general professional trainees.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.