migration

/maɪˈgreɪʃən/

/maɪˈgreɪʃən/

Other forms: migrations

Migration is the movement of either people or animals from one area to another. Look up in the trees, where you might see a Monarch butterfly make a stop on its migration to Mexico.

Migration can be used for the journey from one place to another or for the act of movement. Thousands of mid-western farmers made the migration to California during the dust bowl. Demographers have noted the migration of young people to the big cities presumably for work. With animals, it’s almost always in reference to a seasonal change in location. On boat tours, you can see the whales during their annual migration down the West coast.

Definitions of migration

1. noun

   the movement of persons from one country or locality to another
   types:

   emigration, expatriation, out-migration

   migration from a place (especially migration from your native country in order to settle in another)

   immigration, in-migration

   migration into a place (especially migration to a country of which you are not a native in order to settle there)

   gold rush

   a large migration of people to a newly discovered gold field

   aliyah

   (Judaism) immigration of Jews to Israel

   type of:

   motion, move, movement

   the act of changing location from one place to another
2. noun

   the periodic passage of groups of animals (especially birds or fishes) from one region to another for feeding or breeding
   type of:

   periodic event, recurrent event

   an event that recurs at intervals
3. noun

   a group of people migrating together (especially in some given time period)
   type of:

   people

   (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
4. noun

   (chemistry) the nonrandom movement of an atom or radical from one place to another within a molecule
   type of:

   event

   something that happens at a given place and time