Standard Lemma guide

immigrate

verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • ĭʹmĭ.grāt'
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɪmɪɡɹeɪt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: emigrate (pin–pen merger)
  • CMU ARPABET: IH1 M AH0 G R EY2 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To move into a foreign country to stay permanently.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

come into a new country and change residency

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Many people immigrated at the beginning of the 20th century

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: emigrate

Broader terms: migrate, transmigrate

3

verb

Meaning 3

introduce or send as immigrants

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Britain immigrated many colonists to America

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bring in, introduce

4

verb

Meaning 4

migrate to a new environment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • only few plants can immigrate to the island

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: migrate, transmigrate

History

Etymology

From Latin immigratus, past participle of immigro (“remove, move into”).

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: هَاجَرَ (hājara) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Armenian: ներգաղթել (nergaġtʻel) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Bulgarian: емигрирам (emigriram) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Bulgarian: преселвам се (preselvam se) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Catalan: immigrar — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Chinese Cantonese: 移民 (ji4 man4) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Chinese Mandarin: 移民 (yímín) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Chinese Mandarin: 移居 (yíjū) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Danish: immigrere — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Danish: indvandre — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Dutch: immigreren — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Esperanto: enmigri — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Finnish: muuttaa maahan — to move into a foreign country or area
  • French: immigrer — to move into a foreign country or area
  • German: einwandern — to move into a foreign country or area
  • German: immigrieren — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Hebrew: הִגֵּר (higér) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Hindi: आप्रवास (āpravās) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Ido: enmigrar — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Italian: immigrare — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Japanese: 移住する (ijū suru) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Japanese: 移民する (imin suru) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Khmer: ធ្វើអន្តោប្រវេសន៍ (thvəə ʼɑntaoprɑveeh) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Lao: ເຂົ້າເມືອງ (khao mư̄ang) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Norwegian: immigrere — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Polish: imigrować — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Portuguese: imigrar — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Russian: иммигри́ровать (immigrírovatʹ) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Russian: переселя́ться (pereseljátʹsja) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Russian: пересели́ться (pereselítʹsja) — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Scottish Gaelic: dèan in-imrich — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Serbo-Croatian: imigrirati — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Serbo-Croatian: имигрирати — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Spanish: inmigrar — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Swedish: immigrera — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Swedish: invandra — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Turkish: göçmek — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Turkish: göç etmek — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Vietnamese: nhập cư — to move into a foreign country or area
  • Yiddish: אײַנוואַנדערן (aynvandern) — to move into a foreign country or area