migration

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable or uncountablebiology

   The journey of animals, often every year, from one region to another to feed, breed or avoid bad weather.

   Grammar: Uncountable for the general idea: bird migration; countable for one journey: the annual migration.

   Patterns

   • the migration of something
   • migration to somewhere
   • migration from somewhere

   The autumn migration of geese fills the sky above the lake.

   Scientists track whale migration with small satellite tags.

   Salmon begin their migration up the river each spring.

2. 2noununcountable

   The movement of people from one country or area to live or work in another.

   Grammar: Usually uncountable and used without an article: migration into cities.

   Patterns

   • migration to somewhere
   • migration from somewhere
   • the migration of people

   Rural-to-urban migration changed the population of the whole region.

   The government published new figures on migration last week.

   Drought was one cause of the mass migration that year.

3. 3nouncountable or uncountablecomputing

   The transfer of data, programs or services from one computer system to another.

   Grammar: Countable for a project: a database migration; uncountable for the activity.

   Patterns

   • migration to something
   • migration from something to something

   The migration to the new email system took the whole weekend.

   Data migration often reveals old errors in the records.

   We planned the cloud migration in three stages.

Word forms

Common combinations

mass migration

War caused a mass migration towards the border.

seasonal migration

Seasonal migration brings thousands of cranes to the wetlands.

bird migration

Bird migration peaks in late September.

data migration

Data migration must be tested before the old server is switched off.

net migration

Net migration is the difference between people arriving and people leaving.

Synonyms and how they differ

relocation

Relocation is a single move of a person or business, while migration suggests a larger movement of many individuals or a repeated pattern.

emigration

Emigration looks only at leaving one country, whereas migration covers movement in general.

exodus

An exodus is a sudden departure of a large crowd, while migration can be slow and steady.

transfer

Transfer is the plain word for moving something, but migration implies a bigger, planned shift of a whole set of data or people.

Word family

migrate verb

to move from one place or system to another

migrant noun

a person who moves to find work or a better life

migratory adjective

describing animals that travel seasonally

immigration noun

the act of coming into a country to settle

emigration noun

the act of leaving your country to live elsewhere

Commonly confused: migration or immigration?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “migration”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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