refugee
Americannoun
-
refugees
plural
-
a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of refugee
First recorded in 1675–85; from French réfugié “taken refuge,” past participle of réfugier “to take refuge”; equivalent to refuge + -ee
Explanation
A refugee is someone who has left a dangerous place for a less dangerous place. You could help refugees from a hurricane by bringing them food and blankets. Refuge means shelter. So a refugee is a person that seeks shelter, usually from war, natural disaster, or some other harmful situation. If you see the conditions inside a refugee camp, you will realize how hard the lives of the refugees must have been before leaving home.
Vocabulary lists containing refugee
President Obama's Farewell Address
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A Long Way Gone
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Albert Einstein
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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.
See Examples For:
Inverclyde Council's repopulation strategy is based on trying to encourage them to set down roots here, as well as attracting other legal migrants and people who've been granted refugee status to move in.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Our parish lived and practiced American Catholicism’s long tradition of welcoming the stranger, the outcast, the refugee — following the example and words of the Gospel we read every Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Earlier, the Palestinian embassy in London told the BBC that Hassan El-Khawas had been a refugee.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Born a British subject, Hobsbawm refused to consider himself a refugee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
A woman from the refugee camp dashed into the yard, shouting, waving a green branch.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
American sentiment was turning against newcomers, whether Vietnamese refugees, Cuban and Haitian boat people, Central Americans fleeing civil wars or Mexicans looking for economic opportunity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
At a time when much of the UK has concerns about immigration, Inverclyde's decision to embrace migrants and refugees makes it stand out.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Experts have cited a flurry of obstacles, including voting for soldiers, for millions of Ukrainian refugees and people from occupied territories, as well as disinformation threats from Russia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
The organisation credits him with organising "the building of shelters and infrastructure" in Bangladesh "which saved tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from the threat of landslides and floods".
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
For many of the refugees sheltering at evacuation centers, the order to evacuate was their first indication that something had gone seriously wrong at the nuclear plant, and it left them with a terrible choice.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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.
