adjective
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of, relating to, or characterized by migration
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nomadic; itinerant
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of migratory
Explanation
Animals that change locations with the seasons are said to be migratory. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are migratory. They spend winter in the warmer climate of Mexico, Central, and South America and then return to the eastern United States in the spring. People who move from place to place in search of work are said to be migratory. The adjective is often used in combination with the noun workers. In the United States, migratory workers travel from state to state to help bring in the harvest, often with whole families traveling together. After a cold winter, you might want to be a bit migratory yourself: you could move south to Florida in the winter and return north to Ottawa each spring.
Vocabulary lists containing migratory
Awkward
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World Without Fish
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ospreys are migratory birds which journey from wintering grounds in west Africa to Europe in the spring to breed.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Spanish and Italian agencies watching inbound migratory flows have to monitor the Sahara—a desert larger than the European Union—and the Mediterranean’s broad blue waterway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
“The biggest emotion for me has to be grief, but specifically migratory grief,” Mora said.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
They are also highly migratory pelagic predators, meaning they spend much of their lives traveling through open ocean waters and can move energy and nutrients across large geographic areas.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
And any day now, other migratory birds would begin passing through on their long journeys to the south.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
