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

My grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Italy.

transitive verb

: to bring in or send as immigrants

helped immigrate them

Examples of immigrate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The family started farming peaches in the 1970s, after Johl’s father, Gurbax Johl, immigrated from the Punjab region of India and saved enough to buy land. —Jake Goodrick, Sacbee.com, 26 Feb. 2026

One of those people, the mother of CBS Miami's Tania Francois who immigrated to Miami back in October of 1971. —Tania Francois, CBS News, 26 Feb. 2026

His grandfathers, fishermen Pietro Tarantino and Gaetano D’Acquisto, immigrated to the area from Porticello, Sicily, in the early 1900s and settled in Little Italy. —Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2026

Hailing from the state of Michoacán, Oseguera grew up in poverty and immigrated illegally to California in the 1980s, before being deported to Mexico in the early 1990s. —Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 23 Feb. 2026

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