Meaning & use
immigrate
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Meaning
verbintransitive
To come to a foreign country in order to live there permanently.
Grammar: No object; often followed by 'to' and a place: immigrate to Canada.
Patterns
- immigrate to a country
- immigrate from a country
- immigrate into a country
My grandparents immigrated to the United States in the 1950s.
Many doctors immigrate to Australia for better working conditions.
She decided to immigrate after finishing her degree.
Word forms
| third person singular | immigrates |
|---|---|
| past tense | immigrated |
| past participle | immigrated |
| -ing form | immigrating |
Common combinations
- immigrate to a country
- They immigrated to Canada last year.
- immigrate from a country
- He immigrated from Vietnam as a child.
- immigrate illegally
- The family immigrated illegally and later applied for asylum.
- immigrate for work
- Many young people immigrate for work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- emigrate
- Use emigrate when focusing on leaving a country, not arriving in one: She emigrated from Italy.
- migrate
- Migrate often suggests a temporary or seasonal move, while immigrate means a permanent move to a new country.
- move
- Move is general and can be within the same country; immigrate specifically means entering a foreign country to settle.
Opposites
Word family
- immigration noun
- The process of coming to live in a foreign country.
- immigrant noun
- A person who has come to live in a foreign country.
- immigrated adjective
- Having come to live in a foreign country (often used before a noun).
Commonly confused: immigrate or emigrate?
immigrate vs emigrate
Emigrate means to leave your own country; immigrate means to arrive in a new one. The prepositions differ: emigrate from, immigrate to.
Practice
Complete the sentence: After the war, many families decided to immigrate ___ Germany.
Choose one answer.
Immigrate means to come into a country, so we use 'to' for the destination. 'From' would be correct with emigrate, which means to leave.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “immigrate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.