emigration

American  

[em-i-grey-shuhn] / ˌɛm ɪˈgreɪ ʃən /

noun

• emigrations
  plural

1. an act or instance of emigrating.

2. a body of emigrants; emigrants collectively.

3. Physiology. diapedesis.

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emigration British  

/ ˌɛmɪˈɡreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of emigrating

2. emigrants considered collectively

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Usage

What does emigration mean? Emigration is the act or occurrence of emigrating—permanently leaving home in one country or region to settle in another. A person who is emigrating or has emigrated can be called an emigrant. Less commonly, emigration can also be used to refer to emigrants collectively. What’s the difference between emigration, immigration, and migration?Migration is the act of moving from one place to another (and perhaps back and forth). Emigration is moving out, while immigration is moving in. For this reason, the word emigration is commonly followed by from and the home country, whereas immigration is commonly followed by to and the destination country. Of course, emigration and immigration 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 immigration, while another may experience frequent emigration. The words migration and immigration 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 emigration is almost always about the starting point. Example: The lack of employment has caused emigration to increase significantly, with many highly skilled workers leaving the country.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonemigration
  noun
• reemigration
  noun
• emigrational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• emigrations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of emigration

1640–50; < Late Latin ēmīgrātiōn- (stem of ēmīgrātiō ) removal. See emigrate, -ion

Explanation

Emigration is when a person leaves his or her home country to live in another country indefinitely. First used in the 1640s, the noun emigration derives from the Late Latin word emigrationem, meaning "removal from a place." Emigration often happens when people leave their native country to seek a better life in another country. For example, maybe your great-grandparents left Ireland to settle in Albany, NY, where they worked for the railroad. Remember that emigration refers to leaving a country. Immigration refers to entering a new country.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

emigration emigrations

It’s a chance to chill for the people of a nation — once among the richest in Latin America — that has endured more than a decade of economic meltdown, political turmoil and mass emigration.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

With emigration from East Asia, Europe and Latin America set to decline, Africa will be America’s main source of labor—especially once South Asia’s population begins to shrink by the second half of the 21st century.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Oil-rich Venezuela, a country of 28 million that was long among the wealthiest nations in Latin America, has suffered a decade of economic decline and mass emigration.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

When they left, they would have become part of the wave of mass emigration that saw more than one million people sail from the island.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

Applying his “worldwide rate of dental microevolution” to the three migrations, Turner came up with roughly similar dates of emigration.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

John James Audubon was among the reputable witnesses of what are more properly called emigrations, not migrations.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2023

It was considered enough to express the tragedy of emigrations, of displaced people and their long march.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 15, 2013

It was 1840, three years after the first baptisms, when the emigrations began.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2012

Joseph Ponten's seven-volume historical novel will trace the emigrations of German minorities abroad, especially in Russia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Lastly, there were the priest-led emigrations which took place prior to each catastrophe—and there were many more of these than the four great ones referred to above.

From The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria by W. Scott-Elliot