resettlement
Britishnoun
Explanation
When people who have to leave their home country for their own safety get help moving to a new place, it's called resettlement. Refugees fleeing war can find security and comfort thanks to resettlement. Resettlement can simply mean "settling in a new place," but it almost always describes the assistance given to refugees by a government or other organization. People whose lives and freedom have been threatened at home because of war, disaster, or persecution can apply for asylum and go through the process of resettlement to make their homes in new countries. Sometimes this word is twisted, as when the Nazis described deporting German Jews to concentration camps as "resettlement to the East."
Vocabulary lists containing resettlement
World Refugee Day
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Milkweed
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We Are Not Free
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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.
Her coverage includes writing about the southern border, legal and employment-based immigration, refugee resettlement, care of unaccompanied children, immigration enforcement and relevant legislation on Capitol Hill.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 17, 2026
Hotak, 38, is an Afghan immigrant who served as a program manager at refugee resettlement organization Lao Family Community Development until layoffs due to federal cuts forced him out of work in May.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2025
The Highland region has previously housed people from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Syria under resettlement schemes.
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025
A first group of around 50 Afrikaners -- descendants of the first European settlers of South Africa -- arrived for resettlement in the United States in May.
From Barron's • Oct. 30, 2025
Anger over the Bantu resettlement plan prompted Mayor Swaney to act.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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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.