immigrate

verb

im·​mi·​grate ˈi-mə-ˌgrāt 

immigrated; immigrating

intransitive verb

: to enter and usually become established

especially : to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence

transitive verb

: to bring in or send as immigrants

Examples of immigrate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 33-year-old progressive immigrated to the U.S. from Uganda as a child and has spent most of his life in the nation’s biggest city. —Tara Suter, The Hill, 26 June 2025

Paula Mejia, a Downey resident in her 50s who immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. more than 45 years ago, said that fewer people have been going to restaurants and to other businesses in Downey ever since the ICE raids began. —Summer Lin, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025

The crew that did a wonderful job on my bathroom renovations immigrated from Portugal. —Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 13 June 2025

Nguyen immigrated to the United States from Vietnam four years ago, according to news reports. —Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 9 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin immigratus, past participle of immigrare to remove, go in, from in- + migrare to migrate

First Known Use

circa 1623, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Rhymes for immigrate

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• adsorbate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate

Kids Definition

immigrate

verb

im·​mi·​grate ˈim-ə-ˌgrāt 

immigrated; immigrating

: to come into a foreign country to live

immigration

ˌim-ə-ˈgrā-shən 

noun