immigrant

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noun

One who emigrates: emigrant, migrant, transmigrant. See approach/retreat.

n

Definition: foreign person
Antonyms: local, national, native

Origin: 1789

The American-coined designation immigrant made its appearance in 1789 in Jedidiah Morse's book The American Geography. Referring to New York State, he noted, "There are in this state many immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, Germany, and some few from France." Immigrate was a verb already at home in English, but the noun immigrant was a new arrival.

It was the year of the founding of the modern United States, when the Constitution went into effect. E pluribus unum, "one from many," became not only motto but policy, as thirteen sovereign states made themselves one country, populated by immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Even the American Indians could argue for being immigrants, the first to move to the Americas, thousands of years before the rest of us.

The number of immigrants to the United States has remained substantial throughout our history. In 1850, the first year the official census took notice of foreign born, they amounted to nearly 10 percent of the 23,192,000 inhabitants. In 1900 foreign born were more than 14 percent of 76 million inhabitants; in 1950 nearly 7 percent of 151 million; in 1990 nearly 8 percent of a total population of 248,710,000. Even in the twentieth century, with more restrictions than before, many hundreds of thousands of immigrants have arrived nearly every year.

The importance of immigrants to America was acknowledged in 1809 by Edward Kendall in his Travels through the Northern Parts of the United States: "Immigrant is perhaps the only new word, of which the circumstances of the United States has in any degree demanded the addition to the English language." In England, reflecting the Old World preoccupation with reasons for leaving a country, emigrant has been widely used for persons entering as well as leaving, but the United States looks to the future, not the past, of the immigrants who arrive.

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A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

An unenlightened person who thinks one country better than another.

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IN BRIEF: A person who enters a foreign country to live.

I was the son of an immigrant. I experienced bigotry, intolerance and prejudice, even as so many of you have. Instead of allowing these thing to embitter me, I took them as spurs to more strenuous effort. — Bernard Baruch (1870-1965), American financier and government advisor.

Tutor's tip: A person might be an "emigrant" (a person who leaves a country in order to settle in another country) from Russia and an "immigrant" (a person who comes to settle in a country) to the United States.

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For a list of words related to immigrant, see:

• World Relations and Conditions - immigrant: one who immigrates into foreign state
• Ethnic Origin, Race, or Religion

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See words rhyming with "immigrant."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Immigrant.

Common misspelling(s) of immigrant

• inmigrant

Dansk (Danish)
n. - indvandrer, immigrant

Nederlands (Dutch)
immigrant, immigrant(en) -

Français (French)
n. - immigrant, immigré
adj. - immigrant, immigré

Deutsch (German)
n. - Einwanderer, Immigrant
adj. - Einwanderer-

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μετανάστης, μέτοικος, έποικος
adj. - μετανάστης, μεταναστευτικός

Italiano (Italian)
immigrante

Português (Portuguese)
n. - imigrante (m) (f)

Русский (Russian)
иммигрант

Español (Spanish)
n. - inmigrante
adj. - inmigrante, de inmigrante, inmigratorio

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - immigrant, invandrare
adj. - invandrande, invandrad, invandrar-

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
移民

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 移民

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 이주자, 이민, 귀화 식물

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 移民, 移住者

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) المهاجر (صفه) مهاجر‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מהגר, עולה‬

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