transmigration
Americannoun
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the act of transmigrating.
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the passage of a soul after death into another body; metempsychosis.
Etymology
Origin of transmigration
1250–1300; Middle English transmigracion < Late Latin trānsmigrātiōn- (stem of trānsmigrātiō ) removal. See trans-, migration
Explanation
Transmigration is the movement of a soul into another body after death. Transmigration is related to reincarnation. If you believe your cat is your reincarnated grandmother, then you believe in transmigration. The pieces of this word might look familiar — trans means “across,” as in transport or transcontinental, and migration is the act of moving, like birds flying south. Transmigration used to just mean what it sounds like, as in “move from one place to another,” but later it took on the deeper meaning of a soul moving into another body after death. Various religions are associated with different types of transmigration.
Vocabulary lists containing transmigration
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.
Shoma collects what she considers “incontrovertible proof” of the transmigration of souls, and the writing abounds in jargon from her research into parapsychology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Suppose transmigration is true and you kill the animal that happens to have your loved one's soul.
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2024
This informs the belief that an individual will bear a future burden for harms committed in the present through the process of samsara, or transmigration and rebirth of the soul.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
Knausgaard chews on notions of faith, free will, the transmigration of souls, the nature of angels, on meaning and nothingness in Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and Rilke’s poetry.
From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2021
He admitted that he could never again accept the Hindu doctrine of transmigration.
From The Outcaste by F. E. Penny
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
