emigration
noun
Emigration — the departure from one's native land to settle elsewhere
Definition
Migration from a place (especially migration from your native country in order to settle in another)
In depth
Emigration is migration from a place, especially from one's native country, undertaken in order to settle permanently elsewhere. The word captures the perspective of departure, emphasizing what is left behind, in contrast to 'immigration,' which describes the same movement from the perspective of arrival.
Origin
The word descends from Latin emigrare, to move away, formed from ex- (out) and migrare (to move or wander). Its prominence in historical and sociological writing reflects centuries of mass population movement, each wave of emigration leaving behind its own distinct cultural and economic imprint on the places departed.
Usage examples
"Her family's emigration from the war-torn region had been planned for years before circumstances finally forced their hand."
"Historians trace patterns of emigration across the nineteenth century to understand how entire communities were reshaped by departure."
"The emigration of skilled workers left certain industries struggling to fill critical positions for over a decade."
How to use it
Emigration and immigration describe the same movement of people from two different vantage points, departure and arrival, and writers should choose the term that matches the perspective their sentence is actually taking, since the two are not interchangeable.
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