refugee

American  

[ref-yoo-jee, ref-yoo-jee] / ˌrɛf yʊˈdʒi, ˈrɛf yʊˌdʒi /

noun

1. a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.

2. political refugee.

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refugee British  

/ ˌrɛfjʊˈdʒiː /

noun

1. 1. a person who has fled from some danger or problem, esp political persecution

      refugees from Rwanda

   2. ( as modifier )

      a refugee camp

      a refugee problem

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Other Word Forms

• prorefugee adjective
• refugeeism noun

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

Example Sentences

On Friday, the UN's refugee agency warned that Lebanon was facing a worsening humanitarian crisis that could become catastrophic, with more than one million people now displaced.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

Nearly a month into the Middle East war, Lebanon is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis that now risks teetering over into a catastrophe, the United Nations refugee agency warned Friday.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

Fighting continued to consume the country when Bior’s family sent him to Uganda as a refugee, hoping to keep the 12-year-old boy safe and in school.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

Villahermosa lacks adequate services, with just one migrant shelter and no office of the federal agency that processes refugee applications.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2026

In these houses lived Jews, Irish, Germans, and some Spanish Civil War refugee families that had fled the new Franco regime before the onset of the Second World War.

From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok

Related Words

• alien
• displaced person
• emigrant
• evacuee
• exile
• expatriate
• foreigner