immigrate

/ˌɪməˈgreɪt/

/ˈɪmɪgreɪt/

Other forms: immigrated; immigrating; immigrates

When a person immigrates, he or she moves to a new country. During the great wave of immigration between 1880 and 1924, over 25 million Europeans immigrated to the United States.

Many immigrants make significant contributions to their adopted countries. Consider Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of the twentieth century, who immigrated to America from Germany, or the Russian-born New Yorker Irving Berlin, who wrote some of the most popular songs in the American songbook, including “White Christmas” and “God Bless America." The word immigrate comes from the Latin imigrare, which means “to move in.”

Definitions of immigrate

1. verb

   come into a new country and change residency
   “Many people immigrated at the beginning of the 20th century”

   antonyms:

   emigrate

   leave one's country of residence for a new one

   type of:

   migrate, transmigrate

   move from one country or region to another and settle there
2. verb

   migrate to a new environment
   “only few plants can immigrate to the island”

   type of:

   migrate, transmigrate

   move from one country or region to another and settle there
3. verb

   introduce or send as immigrants
   “Britain immigrated many colonists to America”

   type of:

   bring in, introduce

   bring in a new person or object into a familiar environment