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

Mbappé's mother is of Algerian descent, while his father immigrated from Cameroon to France, where the striker was born in Paris. — ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026

Lora immigrated to New York City from the Dominican Republic in the early 2000s. — Noelle Lilley, CBS News, 16 Sep. 2026

Halfway through the evening, Hendifar, artistic director and CEO of the New York City design studio Apparatus, realized they’d re-created the sounds of his childhood home in Los Angeles, where his mother had immigrated from Tehran. — Sean Santiago, Architectural Digest, 15 Sep. 2026

Island Tacos opened in 2005 and is owned by Antonio and Maria Valderrama, who immigrated to Sacramento from Mexico, according to PBS KVIE’s Abridged. — Emma Hall, Sacbee.com, 14 Sep. 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
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate
• angulate

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