migrant

American  

[mahy-gruhnt] / ˈmaɪ grənt /

adjective

1. migrating, especially of people; migratory.

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noun

• migrants
  plural

1. a person or animal that migrates.

2. a person who attempts to permanently relocate to a new country, but who may be subject to removal by the government of that country: unaccompanied child migrants.

   undocumented migrants;

   unaccompanied child migrants.

3. Also called migrant worker. a person who moves from place to place to get work, especially a farm laborer who harvests crops seasonally.

migrant British  

/ ˈmaɪɡrənt /

noun

1. a person or animal that moves from one region, place, or country to another

2. an itinerant agricultural worker who travels from one district to another

3. 1. an immigrant, esp a recent one

   2. ( as modifier )

      a migrant hostel

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adjective

1. moving from one region, place, or country to another; migratory

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonmigrant
  adjective
• unmigrant
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• migrants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of migrant

1665–75; < Latin migrant- (stem of migrāns ), present participle of migrāre. See migrate, -ant

Explanation

A migrant worker is someone who travels for a job––in the U.S., many farm workers migrate from Mexico every year to work on the harvest and then return home when their jobs are over. If you have traveled into a new country, you are said to have immigrated there, and you are an immigrant. An emigrant is someone who has left. Migrant doesn't refer to whether you are coming in or out––often it means someone who often travels back and forth, like migrant birds who migrate south every winter, year after year.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

migrant migrants

The Being is alien, mystical and magical, a migrant finding her way in a new world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Le Monde said Starmer's successor Andy Burnham had pressed Macron during talks in September to keep the deal alive but "Paris was in a hurry to end the cooperation on controlling migrant flows."

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

He’s also a lifelong resident of the Rio Grande Valley: “My dad was a migrant farmworker, and so was his dad. We don’t come from generational wealth,” he said.

From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026

The relaxed policy allows students or migrant workers to get married quickly without having to travel home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

The migrant claimed that a police officer had pushed him toward the train, causing the accident.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

France had already signalled that the year-long programme, which has seen a little more than 1,000 migrants switch country, was not producing expected results in breaking the traffickers' business model.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

In exchange, as of the end of June, London had legally admitted 1,117 other migrants who had applied in France, according to UK data.

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

A total of 781 migrants arrived in 10 small boats on Wednesday, the highest number for a single day this year, according to Home Office figures.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

Three undocumented migrants, including a 10-year-old boy, died on Monday off the French coast while trying to cross the Channel to Britain, French authorities said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026

El Gusano de Hierro, some migrants call it.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

Related Words

• emigrant
• evacuee
• expatriate
• immigrant
• traveler