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

Several of the works in the show come from José Bedia, Felix González-Torres, and Ana Mendieta were born in Cuba and later immigrated. —Douglas Markowitz, Miami Herald, 28 Oct. 2025

These nations are already politically and economically fragile, which is a big reason why so many of their citizens immigrated to the United States in the first place. —NPR, 28 Oct. 2025

Newsweek was unable to contact the investors who had immigrated via that route. —Didi Kirsten Tatlow, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Oct. 2025

Hadid's father, Mohamed Hadid, is a Palestinian American real estate developer who immigrated to the United States as a teen. —Edward Segarra, USA Today, 21 Oct. 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