migrated; migrating; migrates
1
intransitive
: to move from one country, place, or locality to another
Thousands of workers migrate to this area in the summer.
In another Bavarian village, … 48 out of its total Jewish population of 225 migrated to America between 1834 and 1853, mostly to Cleveland.—
Jonathan D. Sarna
Jonathan D. Sarna… the Carolinas benefited when manufacturing migrated first from … England to the mill towns of New England and then to here, where labor was even cheaper …—Stephanie Clifford
Stephanie Clifford2
intransitive
: to pass usually periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding
The whales migrate between their feeding ground in the north and their breeding ground in the Caribbean.
… migrating birds making the long flight over Lake Erie from the United States to Canada drop to the nearest available ground after the crossing.—Kathryn K. Rushing
Kathryn K. Rushing3
transitive
: to relocate (information) from storage or operation on one computer or computer system to another
In this release we've made further improvements and changes, such as support to migrate files from the legacy model to the new … storage model, and better management of cached files.—Dave Burke
Dave BurkeWork-from-home mandates will most likely be experienced again, so companies are adding work-from-home technology to their business continuity planning. This includes accelerating considerations and plans to migrate applications and file servers to the cloud …—Steve Shoemake and Franzuha Byrd
Steve Shoemake and Franzuha Byrd4
intransitive
: to change position or location in an organism or substance
filarial worms migrate within the human body
migrator
ˈmī-ˌgrā-tər 
noun
mī-ˈgrā-
plural migrators
While … some birds that migrate at night take directional cues from polarized light at twilight, there has been little evidence that daytime migrators make direct use of the sun.
—Henry Fountain
Henry Fountain
Examples of migrate in a Sentence
He migrates from New York to Florida each winter.
Thousands of workers migrate to this area each summer.
The whales migrate between their feeding ground in the north and their breeding ground in the Caribbean.
They followed the migrating herds of buffalo across the plains.
Recent Examples on the Web
China and Mexico are home to numerous electronics factories for major vendors including Apple, Nvidia, Sony, LG, and Samsung, although the companies have been migrating their manufacturing to other countries such as Vietnam and India.
—Michael Kan, PCMAG, 31 Jan. 2025
And in the 1800s, churches served as vital links in the Underground Railroad that helped enslaved people elude authorities and migrate to free states.
—Bill Chappell, NPR, 26 Jan. 2025
Mars is extremely dry, and any ice near the equator would quickly sublime and migrate toward the planet's colder poles.
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Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
—Victoria Corless, Space.com, 24 Jan. 2025
Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
As users migrated to Xiaohongshu en masse, a wave of change hit the platform, as people on two sides of a decades-long geopolitical cold front began interacting for the first time.
—Steffi Cao, Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for migrate 
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Michael Kan, PCMAG, 31 Jan. 2025
And in the 1800s, churches served as vital links in the Underground Railroad that helped enslaved people elude authorities and migrate to free states.
—Bill Chappell, NPR, 26 Jan. 2025
Mars is extremely dry, and any ice near the equator would quickly sublime and migrate toward the planet's colder poles.
Get the Space.com Newsletter
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
—Victoria Corless, Space.com, 24 Jan. 2025
Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time
As users migrated to Xiaohongshu en masse, a wave of change hit the platform, as people on two sides of a decades-long geopolitical cold front began interacting for the first time.
—Steffi Cao, Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for migrate
Dictionary Entries Near migrate
Cite this Entry
“Migrate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/migrate. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
migrate
verb
mi·grate
ˈmī-ˌgrāt
migrated; migrating
1
: to move from one country, place, or locality to another
2
: to pass from one region or climate to another usually on a regular schedule for feeding or breeding
3
: to change position or location in a living thing or substance
parasitic worms migrating from the lungs to the liver
Medical Definition
migrated; migrating
: to move from one place to another: as
a
: to move from one site to another in a host organism especially as part of a life cycle
filarial worms migrate within the human body
b
of an atom or group
: to shift position within a molecule
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