emigrate

[ em-i-greyt ]

verb (used without object)

, em·i·grat·ed, em·i·grat·ing.

1. to leave one country or region to settle in another; migrate:

   to emigrate from Ireland to Australia.

emigrate

/ ˈɛmɪˌɡreɪt /

verb

1. See immigrate
   intr to leave one place or country, esp one's native country, in order to settle in another Compare immigrate

Derived Forms

• ˈemiˌgratory, adjective

Other Words From

• emi·grative adjective
• re·emi·grate verb (used without object) reemigrated reemigrating
• un·emi·grating adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of emigrate¹

First recorded in 1770–80; from Latin ēmīgrātus “moved away” (past participle of ēmīgrāre ), equivalent to ē- “from, away from, out of” ( e- ¹ ) + mīgrātus ( mīgr- “remove” + ātus verb suffix ( -ate ¹ )

Word History and Origins

Origin of emigrate¹

C18: from Latin ēmīgrāre, from mīgrāre to depart, migrate

Synonym Study

See migrate.

Example Sentences

The Blackwell family emigrated from England in 1832 and eventually settled in Cincinnati.

From Washington Post

Fearing Beijing’s increasingly harsh approach to the city, she refinanced her Hong Kong apartment, converted the Hong Kong dollars to foreign currency, and emigrated to Prague earlier this year, joining a growing wave of Hong Kong emigrés.

From Quartz

Many more have emigrated, and as Britain’s new citizenship pathway for Hong Kongers takes effect at the end of this month, hundreds of thousands more could leave in the coming years.

From Quartz

Dort grew up in Montreal-North, where his parents settled after emigrating from Haiti, and soccer — not basketball — was his first choice.

From FiveThirtyEight

Rem Em emigrated from Cambodia in 2002 to help take care of a grandchild with leukemia.

From ProPublica

During the Cold War, the West Germans used to pay the East Germans to release political prisoners and allow them to emigrate.

From The Daily Beast

According to The Guardian, in some small communities, youth are handed money to emigrate to richer Norway.

From The Daily Beast

My friend Danny and I had memorized a list of refuseniks—Soviet Jews denied the right to emigrate—to visit.

From The Daily Beast

And the inequality of economic burden is what pushes the most educated of young Israelis to emigrate.

From The Daily Beast

Local politicians have urged gays to emigrate; some are kicked out of school, excommunicated from their families.

From The Daily Beast

What part of the great continent shall our destination be—shall we emigrate to the North or South?

From Project Gutenberg

The Marquis d'Esgrignon, though not having to emigrate, was still obliged to conceal himself.

From Project Gutenberg

Those who do not dwell in the equatorial countries emigrate every autumn, just as your birds do.

From Project Gutenberg

The guardians were authorised to emigrate poor persons, whether in receipt of relief or not.

From Project Gutenberg

Forty or fifty night-walkers were sent every week to Bridewell, and numbers were induced to emigrate to the colonies.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• depart
• migrate
• quit

More About Emigrate

What does emigrate mean?

Emigrate means to permanently leave home in one country or region to settle in another.

The act or occurrence of emigrating is called emigration. A person who is emigrating or has emigrated can be called an emigrant.

What’s the difference between emigrate, immigrate, and migrate?

To migrate is to move from one place to another (and perhaps back and forth). To emigrate is to move out, and to immigrate is to move in. For this reason, the word emigrate is commonly followed by from and the home country, whereas immigrate is commonly followed by to and the destination country.

Of course, emigrate and immigrate are two ways to describe the same process—people who are emigrating are also immigrating (if they leave, they have to go somewhere).

But there are good reasons to use each word in different situations. For example, one country may be a common destination for people to immigrate to, while another may be a place that people are frequently emigrating from.

The words migrate and immigrate are more likely to be used to describe such relocation in a general way (that is, a way that takes both the starting point and the destination into account), whereas emigrate is almost always about the starting point.

Example: The lack of employment has caused a significant number of people to emigrate, with many highly skilled workers leaving the country.

Where does emigrate come from?

The first records of the verb emigrate come from around the 1780s. It comes from the Latin ēmīgrātus, meaning “moved away.” This word derives from the Latin verb ēmīgrāre, from mīgrāre, meaning “to depart” or “to move from place to place.” The e- part means “out of” or “from.” (In immigrate, the im- part means “in” or “into.”)

The word emigrate typically implies movement out of one country into another (as opposed to movement out of a city or state into another one in the same country). Most countries track statistics about such movement, especially in relation to how it may affect their economies. Although emigrate implies a permanent departure, a person may emigrate again and again until they settle in some place.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to emigrate?

• emigrant (noun)
• emigration (noun)
• emigratory (adjective)
• emigrative (adjective)
• reemigrate (verb)

What are some words that share a root or word element with emigrate? 

• migration
• immigration

What are some words that often get used in discussing emigrate?

• depart
• leave
• home
• country
• nation
• journey
• population
• citizenship

What are some words emigrate may be commonly confused with?

• immigrate
• migrate

How is emigrate used in real life?

Emigrate is often discussed in the context of history and economics. The word emigrate is somewhat less commonly used than immigrate and migrate, since those two can be used more generally.

Boris Johnson relaxed immigration rules to allow millions of people in Hong Kong to emigrate to the U.K., in response to China's new security law in Britain's former colony https://t.co/L9w1vwpr2f

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 5, 2020

If people would indeed take the chance to emigrate en masse, it seems a bit Berlin Wall-esque to blame the destination country. https://t.co/Mzk1ci2ulC

— Faysal Itani (@faysalitani) July 2, 2020

@kilgreaney yes i was born in Dublin – Clontarf and proud of it ! Left when my parents emigrated when i was 2

— Jacquie Beltrao (@SkyJacquie) January 4, 2011

 

 

Try using emigrate!

Which of the following people would be the primary subjects of a study of people emigrating from Germany to France?

A. People who have left France to live in Germany
B. People who have left Germany to live in France
C. People who move back and forth between Germany and France
D. People who have left Germany to vacation in France