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

That’s only partly because of the 11% interest rate on his auto loan, says the 36-year-old, who immigrated to the US from Cuba in 2008 and has a green card. —Steven Church, Bloomberg, 25 Mar. 2026

Guerdy Abraira and Kiki Barth brought light to the Haitian culture; Julia Lemigova was born in Russia; Adriana de Moura represented Brazil; Larsa Pippen is of Assyrian descent; and Lisa Hochstein immigrated from Canada. —Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 23 Mar. 2026

Bojovic, per court filings, immigrated to the United States from Montenegro, a small country in southeast Europe, with his family in 2014 on visitor visas. —Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 23 Mar. 2026

Coro immigrated to the United States nearly 30 years ago from Santa Fe, a neighborhood in Havana. —Isabel Rosales, CNN Money, 21 Mar. 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