emigration

noun

em·​i·​gra·​tion ˌe-mə-ˈgrā-shən 

plural emigrations

: an act or instance of emigrating : departure from a place of abode, natural home, or country for life or residence elsewhere

… with the advent of steamships, by the 1880s intensive emigration had spread from every corner of the globe.

—B. S. Rabinowitz

Further Chinese emigration to Taiwan was to be carefully limited.

—Jonathan D. Spence

Examples of emigration in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

John Polga-Hecimovich, a Latin America expert at the United States Naval Academy, said emigration from Venezuela to neighboring countries in recent years has colored many people’s views of leftist politics in general and Chavismo in particular. —Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2026

My parents met in the United States several years later after my mom's emigration from Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. —Arkansas Online, 15 Jan. 2026

Those conditions contributed to waves of emigration, including countless refugees, as well as some members of transnational gangs. —Aaron Coy Moulton, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2026

The emigration was published in the official gazette so that potential creditors could still collect their money before the people set off for the New World. —Angela Velasquez, Sourcing Journal, 12 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1614, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for emigration

• abdication
• aberration
• abjuration
• abnegation
• abrogation
• acceptation
• acclamation
• acclimation
• accusation
• activation
• actuation
• acylation

Medical Definition

emigration

noun

em·​i·​gra·​tion ˌem-ə-ˈgrā-shən 

: diapedesis