immigrant

noun im·mi·grant \ ˈi-mə-grənt \

Updated on: 22 May 2018

Definition of immigrant

: one that immigrates: such as

a : a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence

b : a plant or animal that becomes established in an area where it was previously unknown

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immigrant

adjective

See immigrant defined for English-language learners

See immigrant defined for kids

Examples of immigrant in a Sentence

Millions of immigrants came to America from Europe in the 19th century.
The city has a large immigrant population.

Recent Examples of immigrant from the Web

My dad came to this country as an immigrant, started with nothing, fleeing the Nazis.

— anna m. phillips, latimes.com, "Talking schools with L.A. Unified's new superintendent," 13 May 2018
In 2016 Arizona welcomed twice as many Californian refugees as Mexican immigrants.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "California Prays to the Sun God," 11 May 2018
Being a Boy Scout helped him find his identity as an immigrant.

— cassie spodak, CNN, "'Bridging the Divide' on guns, abortion and more," 11 May 2018
As an immigrant from Jamaica, though, Carter, 72, really wanted to lay eyes on Markle, a biracial American actress who is the subject of deep fascination here.

— karla adam, chicagotribune.com, "How Meghan Markle's race could modernize the British monarchy: 'We need a bit of color in the royal family'," 10 May 2018
One such event, promoted by the page Black Matters, promoted a night of free legal help for immigrants.

— issie lapowsky, WIRED, "House Democrats Release 3,300 Russia-Linked Facebook Ads," 10 May 2018
Democrats hope that anti-Trump sentiment will help drive turnout this fall, along with policies like free college tuition and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

— vauhini vara, The New Republic, "Essential reporting, interpretation, and opinion on politics and culture. Don't miss our latest.," 9 May 2018
Hondurans who had benefited from the program must now decide by January 2020 whether to return to their home countries, or remain in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants.

— alan gomez, USA TODAY, "Trump administration ends protections for 57,000 Hondurans," 4 May 2018
Bussey said the administration gave her no indication that Hondurans in the U.S. would be protected from deportation but said officials want to work with Congress to find a permanent solution for the immigrants.

— anita kumar and franco ordonez, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Trump administration to send 57,000 Hondurans in the United States home," 4 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'immigrant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

immigrant or emigrant?

Both of these words come from the Latin migrare (“to move from one place to another”), and both have definitions in English that hew closely to their etymological roots, but there is a definite difference between how you would use each one. Emigrant is used in reference to the country that has been left (“an emigrant from Canada”), while immigrant is used in reference the country that one is destined for (“an immigrant to Spain”).