migrate
[mahy-greyt]
- to go from one country, region, or place to another.
- to pass periodically from one region or climate to another, as certain birds, fishes, and animals: The birds migrate southward in the winter.
- to shift, as from one system, mode of operation, or enterprise to another.
- Physiology. (of a cell, tissue, etc.) to move from one region of the body to another, as in embryonic development.
- Chemistry.
- (of ions) to move toward an electrode during electrolysis.
- (of atoms within a molecule) to change position.
- (at British universities) to change or transfer from one college to another.
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Origin of migrate
1690–1700; < Latin migrātus (past participle of migrāre to move from place to place, change position or abode), equivalent to migrā- verb stem + -tus past participle suffix
Synonym study
1. Migrate, emigrate, immigrate are used of changing one's abode from one country or part of a country to another. To migrate is to make such a move either once or repeatedly: to migrate from Ireland to the United States. To emigrate is to leave a country, usually one's own (and take up residence in another): Each year many people emigrate from Europe. To immigrate is to enter and settle in a country not one's own: There are many inducements to immigrate to South America. Migrate is applied both to people or to animals that move from one region to another, especially periodically; the other terms are generally applied to movements of people.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
trekshiftdriftroamimmigrateemigratewandervoyagetransmigrateleaverangejourneyrovenomadizeExamples from the Web for migrated
Contemporary Examples
There were also the fleshy remains of the seniors who migrated to Florida from all points north.
The increasingly vicious debate has since migrated into newspaper columns and TV.
Some, like Pete, who McKell has become quite close with, have migrated to and from other types of nomadic communities.
Those who migrated to Asia were also indulging in art at the same time, possibly earlier.
The Jews who migrated to the United States have assimilated into its society, as have their creations.
Historical Examples
We found both at Stocks, whither we migrated in the summer of 1892.
A Writer's Recollections (In Two Volumes), Volume IIMrs. Humphry Ward
Betty married, and migrated to a new home in another part of the State.
Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From HomeBayard Taylor
We migrated to Mayberry the following Monday, as we had agreed to do.
Kent Knowles: QuahaugJoseph C. Lincoln
They migrated at first as lowest-class passengers on the commercial lines.
Cubs of the WolfRaymond F. Jones
Colonists might have migrated from another Terran-occupied planet.
Control GroupRoger Dee
migrate
- to go from one region, country, or place of abode to settle in another, esp in a foreign country
- (of birds, fishes, etc) to journey between different areas at specific times of the year
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin migrāre to change one's abode
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for migrated
migrate
v.
1690s, from Latin migratus, past participle of migrare "to move from one place to another" (see migration). Related: Migrated; migrating.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper