emigrate

American  

[em-i-greyt] / ˈɛm ɪˌgreɪt /

verb (used without object)

emigrated, emigrating

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

   to emigrate from Ireland to Australia.

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emigrate British  

/ ˈɛmɪˌɡreɪt /

verb

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

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Usage

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.

Related Words

See migrate.

Other Word Forms

• emigrative adjective
• emigratory adjective
• reemigrate verb (used without object)
• unemigrating adjective

Etymology

Origin of emigrate

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 )

Example Sentences

"Things there are terrible. People are starving, there's nothing," said Salgado, a 72-year-old who emigrated to the United States four decades ago.

From Barron's

One expert on Polynesian history has estimated that between 1862 and 1888—when Easter Island was brought under the jurisdiction of the Chilean navy—“about 94% of the population perished or emigrated.”

From The Wall Street Journal

"It's not a pleasant feeling and honestly I'm still trying to understand what happened specifically," said Malinin, the son of Olympic figure skaters who represented Uzbekistan and emigrated to the United States.

From Barron's

Michtom, who emigrated in 1888 from an impoverished shtetl in the Russian Pale of Settlement, noted that the czar “was never that humanitarian.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Many of his friends also want to emigrate.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• depart
• migrate
• quit