What does immigrated mean?
Immigrated is the past tense and past participle of immigrate, meaning to enter a country and settle there as a resident. It is used for people who make a new country their home, whether through family reunion, employment, education, humanitarian protection, or another recognized route. The verb is often followed by to, naming the destination, or from, identifying the place of origin: a family immigrated from Poland, or she immigrated to Canada. Its counterpart, emigrated, describes leaving a country to settle elsewhere. The related noun immigration refers to the process or policy of admitting people from other countries, while an immigrant is a person who has settled in a new country. In neutral historical and journalistic writing, immigrated is appropriately factual, though descriptions of immigration policy or individual arrivals may also carry political or social connotations depending on context.
verbTo enter a country and settle there as a resident, especially as a permanent immigrant. The past tense of immigrate.
- To enter a country and settle there as a resident.
- To transfer oneself permanently from one country to another, especially in the context of immigration.
"After graduating from university, she immigrated to Canada to begin a career in architecture."
"Her grandparents immigrated from Italy in the early twentieth century."
"Thousands of skilled workers immigrated to the country after new employment rules were introduced."
Coming to a new country and making a life there is captured in one vivid line of history: immigrated.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does immigrated come from?
The word comes from Latin immigrāre, formed from in- “into” and migrāre “to move,” meaning to move into a new place. English adopted the related forms immigrant and immigration in the seventeenth century; immigrate became established in the eighteenth century. Its antonym emigrate shares the same Latin root through ex- “out of,” while migrate preserves the central idea of movement.
Related word forms
How immigrated is actually used
This is the past tense and past participle of immigrate. It normally describes a person entering a country to live there; when the country of origin is also relevant, it is commonly paired with from.
Easily confused with immigrated
Immigrate refers to entering and settling in a country, whereas emigrate refers to leaving one country to live elsewhere.