transmigrate

American  

[trans-mahy-greyt, tranz-] / trænsˈmaɪ greɪt, trænz- /

verb (used without object)

transmigrated, transmigrating

1. to move or pass from one place to another.

2. to migrate from one country to another in order to settle there.

3. (of the soul) to be reborn after death in another body.

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verb (used with object)

transmigrated, transmigrating

1. to cause to transmigrate, as a soul; transfer.

transmigrate British  

/ ˌtrænzmaɪˈɡreɪt /

verb

1. to move from one place, state, or stage to another

2. (of souls) to pass from one body into another at death

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Other Word Forms

• transmigration noun
• transmigrational adjective
• transmigrative adjective
• transmigrator noun
• transmigratory adjective
• untransmigrated adjective

Etymology

Origin of transmigrate

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin trānsmigrātus (past participle of trānsmigrāre to depart, migrate). See trans-, migrate

Explanation

You're most likely to come across the word transmigrate in a religious context. Your soul, some people believe, will transmigrate into a new body after death. Another way to say transmigrate is reincarnate, or be born again after death. Many religions believe that people transmigrate after they die, including Buddhism and Hinduism as well as some Native American beliefs. Rarely, the verb transmigrate is used to mean "move to a new country," although migrate is much more common. The root is the Latin word transmigrat, "move from one place to another," from the prefix trans, "across or beyond," and migratus, "to move."

Example Sentences

Ladder�If the 20th Century does not suit, transmigrate to the 25th.

From Time Magazine Archive

Oh, if our souls could transmigrate I'd be a seamew above all birds that fly!

From Beyond the City by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

The phenomena of spiritualism would then transmigrate from the region of materialized "mothers-in-law" and half-witted fortune-telling to the regions of the psycho-physiological sciences.

From From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan by Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)

From this veracious narrative we gather that sometimes the souls of the dead, instead of going away to the spirit-land, transmigrate into the bodies of animals.

From The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, Volume I (of 3) The Belief Among the Aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea and Melanesia by Frazer, James George, Sir

It is Manas, the animal intelligence, and the animal soul or Jiva, both half material illusions, that sin and suffer and transmigrate from one body into the other till they purify themselves.

From From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan by Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)