emigrate
Americanverb (used without object)
verb
Usage
What does emigrate mean? Emigrate means to permanently leave home in one country or region to settle in another. The act or occurrence of emigrating is called emigration. A person who is emigrating or has emigrated can be called an emigrant. What’s the difference between emigrate, immigrate, and migrate?To migrate is to move from one place to another (and perhaps back and forth). To emigrate is to move out, and to immigrate is to move in. For this reason, the word emigrate is commonly followed by from and the home country, whereas immigrate is commonly followed by to and the destination country. Of course, emigrate and immigrate are two ways to describe the same process—people who are emigrating are also immigrating (if they leave, they have to go somewhere). But there are good reasons to use each word in different situations. For example, one country may be a common destination for people to immigrate to, while another may be a place that people are frequently emigrating from. The words migrate and immigrate are more likely to be used to describe such relocation in a general way (that is, a way that takes both the starting point and the destination into account), whereas emigrate is almost always about the starting point. Example: The lack of employment has caused a significant number of people to emigrate, with many highly skilled workers leaving the country.
Synonym Usage
See migrate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
reemigrateverb (used without object)
-
emigrativeadjective
-
emigratoryadjective
-
unemigratingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
emigratesimple
-
emigratessimple
-
have emigratedperfect
-
has emigratedperfect
-
am emigratingprogressive
-
are emigratingprogressive
-
is emigratingprogressive
-
have been emigratingperfect progressive
-
has been emigratingperfect progressive
Past
-
emigratedsimple
-
had emigratedperfect
-
was emigratingprogressive
-
were emigratingprogressive
-
had been emigratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of emigrate
First recorded in 1770–80; from Latin ēmīgrātus “moved away” (past participle of ēmīgrāre ), equivalent to ē- “from, away from, out of” ( see e- 1) + mīgrātus ( mīgr- “remove” + ātus verb suffix ( see -ate 1)
Explanation
If you move to a different country, you emigrate. For example, if you emigrate from Canada and go to Italy, you aren't on vacation — you are making Italy your new home. Benvenuti! The verb emigrate comes from the Latin word emigrare, which means “move away,” or “depart from a place.” The words emigrate and immigrate both mean that a person has decided to permanently live in a foreign country, but to emigrate is to leave your country, and to immigrate is to come into a new country. To emigrate is to exit.
Vocabulary lists containing emigrate
Commonly Confused Words, List 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"A Place to Call Home," Vocabulary from the research study
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Geography
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Zemlinsky did manage to emigrate to New York but died of pneumonia in 1942 without having been able to revive his career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Albania has been in a demographic crisis for decades, as people emigrate abroad in search of better work prospects.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
She doesn't want to emigrate like the millions who have fled Venezuela's economic crisis but longs for political and economic reform, saying everything is "too expensive", education is a "privilege", and non-exploitative jobs are rare.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
Economic collapse and political repression led roughly 8 million Venezuelans to emigrate since 2014, making it one of the world’s largest displacement crises.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026
I can’t marry and I can’t emigrate and the dust will eventually kill me.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
The two lose contact for 12 years after Nora’s family emigrates to the United States and reconnect after Hae-sung finds her again on Facebook.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2024
“No one emigrates from their country because they want to. One migrates because you have basic needs and there isn’t support in your native country,” she said, starting to cry.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 6, 2023
Dr Black said contracts are being handed back because there are serious difficulties in finding a replacement when a doctor "retires or emigrates, or resigns".
From BBC ● May 29, 2023
The pair meet in a Los Angeles classroom in second grade after Jane emigrates from Taiwan.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 4, 2022
The hero, a young English lad, after rather a stormy boyhood, emigrates to Australia, where he gets employment as an officer in the mounted police.
From Historic Boys Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times by Brooks, Elbridge Streeter
Rubio was born in Miami on May 28, 1971, to Cuban parents who had emigrated 15 years earlier to escape poverty.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
U.K. pop-soul singer Olivia Dean’s grandmother took her first plane ride at 18, when she emigrated to the U.K. from Guyana.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
My love for the Fourth comes from my grandfather, who emigrated to this country from Lebanon.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
But when she was about 10 years old, Ko's family emigrated to North Korea.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
But those first nine expeditions embarked for Tibet from Darjeeling, where many Sherpas had emigrated, and where they had developed a reputation among the resident colonialists for being hardworking, affable, and intelligent.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
That simple, honorable point about the dignity of emigrating remains painfully controversial in Dean’s home country and here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
The United States is looking to give former Afghan allies stuck in Qatar a choice between emigrating to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo or returning to their Taliban-ruled homeland, an activist said Tuesday.
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
Born in Dublin in 1623, Downing spent his childhood in London before emigrating to New England with his family as part of the Puritan migration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 11, 2026
And he, as a young boy, was part of the avocado trade before emigrating to the United States.
From Slate ● Feb. 25, 2026
Then, through a series of misadventures, the family had ended up in China, finally emigrating to Canada in the twentieth century.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
