emigrate

/ˌɛməˈgreɪt/

/ˈɛmɪgreɪt/

Other forms: emigrated; emigrating; emigrates

If you move to a different country, you emigrate. For example, if you emigrate from Canada and go to Italy, you aren't on vacation — you are making Italy your new home. Benvenuti!

The verb emigrate comes from the Latin word emigrare, which means “move away,” or “depart from a place.” The words emigrate and immigrate both mean that a person has decided to permanently live in a foreign country, but to emigrate is to leave your country, and to immigrate is to come into a new country. To emigrate is to exit.

Definitions of emigrate

1. verb

   leave one's country of residence for a new one
   “Many people had to emigrate during the Nazi period”

   antonyms:

   immigrate

   come into a new country and change residency

   types:

   expatriate

   move away from one's native country and adopt a new residence abroad

   type of:

   migrate, transmigrate

   move from one country or region to another and settle there