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Glite Dictionary
transmigration

transmigration

2 9.9
A belief that a soul moves into another body after death
  • noun
  • /ˌtrænzmɪˈɡreɪʃən/
  • Literature
translation icon : transmigración
  • If I believed in the doctrine of the transmigration of souls.
  • transmigration of souls
  • doctrine of transmigration

There's no pre existence of the souls you know, in some previous life and transmigration or anything like that.

Examples

  • In many cultures, people believe in transmigration, the idea that a soul will enter a new body after death.

  • I would say, for the vast majority of the Orientalists, a clear example of the transmigration of the soul.

    Youth Without Youth (2007)

  • It's from the Greek, transmigration of the soul.

    Bloom (2003)

  • You are ready for your transmigration.

    Crow (2016)

  • That means the transmigration of souls.

    Bloom (2003)

  • But transmigration is illegal in a Catholic country.

    Casanova (2015)

  • I spoke with a delightful old gentleman who affected to believe in the transmigration of souls.

    The Duellists (1977)

  • From a Leibnizian perspective, however, the Swinburne scenario is open to some of the more profound objections he made against the transmigration of souls.

    Academic text (1998)

  • According to scriptural teaching, humans are unique persons, "unrepeatable" in the history of the world, and therefore not under the law of "transmigration" as Buddhism teaches.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Druze, as a different example, believe in the transmigration of souls and could conceptualize a mental illness as punishment from a previous life (Daie, Witztum, Mark, & Rabinowitz, 1992).

    Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

reincarnation
vstransmigration
41 7.1

Belief that a person's soul is born again in a new body after death

is used more broadly across some religions and philosophical systems
rebirth
vstransmigration
9 7.2

The belief that a soul begins a new life in a different human body after death

includes any destination and does not limit the body to human
metempsychosis
vstransmigration
  • Literature
1 9.9

A belief that after death a soul moves into another person or animal to live again

is more general and does not specify animal destinations
cycle of rebirth
vstransmigration
  • Literature
1 7.6

A process of being born again after death many times until you become free

is the one-time passage into another body rather than ongoing cycles
reincarnationism
vstransmigration
9.9

A belief that a person's soul lives again in a new body after death

focuses on the passage event rather than the formal doctrine label

Surface Forms

transmigration singular
transmigrations plural

Morphology

transmigration = migration (transparent) = trans + migration

Formed by the productive prefix 'trans-' (across) attached to 'migration' (movement), so the sense 'passage of a soul into another body' is a clear instance of movement across bodies.

Etymology

Transmigration comes from trans- ('across') and the same root as migrate, which means 'to move'. So think of a soul 'moving across' into a new body after death, which is why transmigration means the passage of a soul into another body.