émigré

American  

[em-i-grey, ey-mee-grey] / ˈɛm ɪˌgreɪ, eɪ miˈgreɪ /

noun

plural

émigrés

1. an emigrant, especially a person who flees from their native land because of political conditions.

2. a person who fled from France because of opposition to or fear of the revolution that began in 1789.

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émigré British  

/ ˈɛmɪˌɡreɪ, emiɡre /

noun

1. an emigrant, esp one forced to leave his native country for political reasons

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Usage

What does émigré mean? An émigré is an emigrant, especially one who has fled their home country due to oppressive political conditions. An emigrant is any person who has emigrated or is emigrating—permanently leaving home in one country or region to settle in another. While emigrants can emigrate for a number of reasons, the word émigré typically implies that someone has fled political oppression or political conditions that they strongly disagree with. The word émigré is sometimes used in a more specific way to refer to a person who fled from France before, during, or after the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Such émigrés were often aristocrats who feared that they would be targeted by violence during the revolution or otherwise opposed it. The related word immigrant refers to someone who moves to a place, as opposed to away from it. Of course, émigrés are also immigrants since they have to settle somewhere after they leave. The word is sometimes seen without the accent marks (as emigre). Example: Thousands of émigrés fled Germany during the rise of Hitler in the 1930s.

Etymology

Origin of émigré

First recorded in 1785–95; from French: noun use of past participle of émigrer, from Latin ēmīgrāre to emigrate

Explanation

An emigre is someone who moves to a different country. As many as two million emigres left Russia during the three years after the Russian Revolution. The French émigré, "an emigrant," comes from the Latin emigrare, "depart from a place." You can use this word for anyone who departs their home country, but it usually describes people who leave for political reasons. Russian emigres found themselves in opposition to Russia’s new political climate and fled to countries all across Europe. During the American Revolution, many colonists who were loyal to Britain also became emigres, departing for Canada and Great Britain.

Example Sentences

In 1778 John Singleton Copley, the American émigré artist, fresh from a successful career as a colonial portraitist, turned to this scene.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025

But the life of a political émigré, increasingly out of touch and irrelevant, was not for him.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2024

But Russian émigré journalist Arkady Ostrovsky, in his book "The Invention of Russia," explains how that Wild West atmosphere came to exist in the first place.

From Salon • Aug. 19, 2023

Given its symbiotic relationship with commerce, it should be no surprise that the progenitor of the mass-produced cardboard box, a Scottish émigré named Robert Gair, was himself a manufacturer.

From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2022

Fortunately the student was a recent émigré from Poland named Marie Curie.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• emigrant