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to immigrate

to immigrate

35 3.2
To move to another country to live there permanently
  • verb
  • /ˈɪmɪˌɡreɪt/
translation icon : inmigrar a
  • So she immigrated to the US many years ago, but she was born in an island here.
  • immigrate to another country
  • immigrate to the United States
  • immigrate to Canada

Well, my parents, my parents immigrated to to Canada.

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Examples

  • Her parents are originally from Mexico and immigrated to America, where Alba was born.

    Academic text (2013)
  • Every year, thirty thousand Koreans immigrate to the US.

  • Now he wants to immigrate to this country.

  • Then the owner decided to immigrate, and he wants to sell the house now.

  • Well, I immigrated when I was a child to California.

  • So my parents immigrated here to United States from Asia.

  • Mothers in the study immigrated to Canada, on average, 25 years ago.

    Academic text (2008)
  • My family immigrated to Queens, NY.

  • He immigrated from Jamaica to a little house off Auburn Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he was 13 years old.

  • Every year, thirty thousand Koreans immigrate to the US.

Synonyms

to emigrate
vsto immigrate
34 3.7

To leave your own country to live in another country permanently

is framed as coming into a country to live there permanently
to expatriate
vsto immigrate
1 6.8

To leave your country to live in another country for a long time

stresses permanent settlement rather than possibly temporary residence
to transmigrate
vsto immigrate
  • Literature
9.1

To move to another country or region to live there

focuses on arriving into a country to live there permanently

Antonyms

34 3.7

To leave your own country to live in another country permanently

Surface Forms

immigrate infinitive
immigrated past
immigrated past participle
immigrating present participle
immigrates third person singular

Morphology

immigrate = migrate (transparent) = im + migrate

The verb is a straightforward prefixation of 'migrate' with 'im-' giving the sense of moving into a place, so its meaning is directly recoverable from the base.

Etymology

The word immigrate comes from in- meaning 'into' and migrate meaning 'to move', the same root you see in migrant and migration. So to immigrate is to 'move into' a country to live there.