immigration
Americannoun
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the movement of non-native people into a country in order to settle there
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the part of a port, airport, etc where government employees examine the passports, visas, etc of foreign nationals entering the country
Other Word Forms
- anti-immigration adjective
- immigrational adjective
- immigratory adjective
- nonimmigration noun
- preimmigration noun
- proimmigration adjective
Etymology
Origin of immigration
Explanation
Immigration is the process of moving to a new country to stay. New York's Ellis Island was considered a gateway for European immigration to the United States during the early 1900's. Nowadays, people immigrate through airports instead of islands. The word migration is in immigration, which is something we think of birds doing when they fly South for the winter. It's not an accident — if American birds had little passports, they'd have to go through immigration when they got to Mexico. When humans immigrate, they have to follow the rules of the new country or else they risk getting in trouble. Immigration is the act of going to a new country, while emigration refers to the process of leaving one.
Vocabulary lists containing immigration
Human Geography - Middle School
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The United States
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Human Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Speaking at the University of Kansas, the senior liberal justice was asked about a September 2025 decision that dealt with the rules for federal immigration agents to detain people and ask about their citizenship.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s seeming lack of empathy regarding an immigration case, later apologizing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 18, 2026
She had not yet received the green card when Billy died suddenly in January, leaving her immigration status unclear.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026
Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina, a Pasadena resident, was detained Thursday during a check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to his immigration lawyer, Stacy Tolchin.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
I stood up and followed the immigration officer out of the classroom and into his car marked “Border Patrol.”
From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
