refugee
Americannoun
-
a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of refugee
First recorded in 1675–85; from French réfugié “taken refuge,” past participle of réfugier “to take refuge”; equivalent to refuge + -ee
Explanation
A refugee is someone who has left a dangerous place for a less dangerous place. You could help refugees from a hurricane by bringing them food and blankets. Refuge means shelter. So a refugee is a person that seeks shelter, usually from war, natural disaster, or some other harmful situation. If you see the conditions inside a refugee camp, you will realize how hard the lives of the refugees must have been before leaving home.
Vocabulary lists containing refugee
President Obama's Farewell Address
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A Long Way Gone
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Albert Einstein
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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.
See Examples For:
Not yet 30, the energetically self-assured German refugee soon mesmerizes the narrator and his four closest classmates—Aharon, Dan, Yair and Aya, the only female among them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
The disputed settlement emerged from a 1985 lawsuit over the fate of 15-year-old Jenny Flores, a Salvadoran refugee who was picked up by federal immigration enforcement and left to languish in detention in Pasadena.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
But when he saw Mexican and Venezuelan army medics giving free services at a refugee camp the government set on a golf course here, he decided to bring his whole family by for a checkup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Syria is seeking economic support to rebuild after years of brutal war that helped rise to the Islamic State extremist group and generated a major refugee crisis.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
A Vietnamese refugee climbs up a cargo net to the deck of the American ship USS White Plains, 1979.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
A haven for refugees fleeing a civil war in the late ’90s, Minnesota is home to some 80,000 people of Somali descent, most of whom are citizens.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
Asylum seekers and refugees are also exempt, as are some of those who receive disability benefits.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
But as mayor, Burnham argued issues out of his control exacerbated the problem with the underlying housing shortage, cost-of-living pressures and refugees being evicted from hotels meaning the numbers have remained high.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
In the 1930s and 1940s, postrevolutionary Mexico emerged as both an incubator of modern art and haven for European refugees, political exiles and other expats.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
In many cases, this doomed the refugees to starvation.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
