emigration

/ɛmɪˈgreɪʃɪn/

/ɛmɪˈgreɪʃən/

Other forms: emigrations

Emigration is when a person leaves his or her home country to live in another country indefinitely.

First used in the 1640s, the noun emigration derives from the Late Latin word emigrationem, meaning "removal from a place." Emigration often happens when people leave their native country to seek a better life in another country. For example, maybe your great-grandparents left Ireland to settle in Albany, NY, where they worked for the railroad. Remember that emigration refers to leaving a country. Immigration refers to entering a new country.

Definitions of emigration

1. noun

   migration from a place (especially migration from your native country in order to settle in another)
   synonyms: expatriation, out-migration

   type of:

   migration

   the movement of persons from one country or locality to another