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

More than 2 million East European Jews immigrated to the United States from 1881-1924, and most opted to settle down in the Northeast. — Ashley Walters, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026

Both Wiener, a gay man and staunch advocate for the city’s large LGBTQ+ community, and Chan, who immigrated to the city from Hong Kong at age 13 and has deep ties to its large Chinese and immigrant communities, would make history by winning. — Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026

Manoogian also added that his collecting habit was to reflect the generosity of America when his parents immigrated in 1920. — Hikmat Mohammed, ARTnews.com, 28 Sep. 2026

BlackRock was always in sight Both sides of Scotto’s family immigrated from Italy in 1905, settling first in Manhattan’s Little Italy before moving across the bridge to Brooklyn. — Tatiana Sataua, Fortune, 26 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