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

We are social scientists who study immigrant communities in Idaho and the challenges farmworkers face.

From Salon • Jun. 28, 2026

Steven Andersen, in his fifties, the grandson of a Norwegian immigrant to the United States, was wearing the vibrant red jersey of Norway's team and drinking in the scene in a bar.

From Barron's • Jun. 27, 2026

After lawmakers approved the spending reductions, support for immigrant health coverage dropped, Baldassare said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026

Mukherjee has been working with immigrant families detained at Texas’ Dilley Immigration Processing Center to file habeas petitions and has also contributed to cases for pro-Palestine activists and students targeted for deportation.

From Slate • Jun. 26, 2026

The immigrant Handel, a naturalised British citizen from 1727, demonstrated more successfully than any other composer before the nineteenth century how music could become the collective voice of nationhood.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall