migrant
Americanadjective
noun
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a person or animal that migrates.
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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.
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Also called migrant worker. a person who moves from place to place to get work, especially a farm laborer who harvests crops seasonally.
noun
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a person or animal that moves from one region, place, or country to another
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an itinerant agricultural worker who travels from one district to another
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an immigrant, esp a recent one
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( as modifier )
a migrant hostel
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adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing migrant
Mexico - Introductory
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Mexico - Middle School
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The Great Depression and The New Deal
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Migrant boats have been forced to leave from further south, notably from The Gambia and Guinea, adding to the journey -- and dangers -- at sea, after Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco increased maritime patrols.
From Barron's • Jan. 2, 2026
Migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford in Essex.
From BBC • Nov. 8, 2025
Migrant Equity Southeast, an immigrant-advocacy group in Savannah, has been tracking labor conditions at the Hyundai complex since Gamboa’s death.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 12, 2025
Though the news conference was titled “DHS Press Conference on Migrant Flight to South Sudan,” McLaughlin said the State Department brokered an agreement with “a nation” willing to accept the detainees.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2025
On Ash Wednesday in February or March and the Day of the Migrant in September, all of the churches take up a collection.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
