immigrant

American  

[im-i-gruhnt] / ˈɪm ɪ grənt /

noun

• immigrants
  plural

1. 

   a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.

2. an organism found in a new habitat.

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adjective

1. of or relating to immigrants and immigration.

   a department for immigrant affairs.

2. immigrating.

immigrant British  

/ ˈɪmɪɡrənt /

noun

1. 1. a person who comes to a country in order to settle there Compare emigrant

   2. ( as modifier )

      an immigrant community

2. an animal or plant that lives or grows in a region to which it has recently migrated

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonimmigrant
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• immigrants
  plural

Etymology

Origin of immigrant

An Americanism first recorded in 1780–90; from Latin immigrant-, stem of immigrāns “moving into,” present participle of immigrāre “to move into”; equivalent to im- ¹ + migrant

Explanation

The United States is a country of immigrants — people who come to one country from another country, in hopes of having a better life. An inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty welcomes new immigrants: "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." Don't confuse the words immigrant and emigrant. If you come to a country, you are an immigrant and you emigrate from somewhere else. Ireland has many emigrants to America; America has many immigrants from Ireland. If your parents were immigrants to the United States, but you were born here, you are a citizen automatically.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

immigrant immigrants

“Steve Hilton may not know that because even though he’s an immigrant, he hasn’t taken the time to research.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

“To think there’s only one immigrant story would just be to not know California.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Gregory Diamos watched the son of an Italian immigrant make that turn.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

That’s an approach being used by the Community Organizing Alliance in Maine, a civic group focused on engaging Black and immigrant voters.

From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026

But he is certain that it is much tougher for an immigrant to get ahead today than fifty years ago.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Hilton is an immigrant from the United Kingdom and is the son of Hungarian immigrants who fled their homeland during a revolution in 1956.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Democrat Xavier Becerra, the frontrunner to become the state’s next governor, often invokes the story of his parents’ humble beginnings as immigrants from Mexico who, through hard work, built happy and productive lives in California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

Law enforcement agencies serving communities with few immigrants are eligible for the same per-officer pay as those with many immigrants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

The dealer explained there was a retirement community of Italian immigrants where many residents drove golf carts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Historian Oscar Handlin wrote, “Once I thought to write a history of the immigrant in America...then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.”

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler