mi ‧ grant AC /ˈmaɪɡrənt/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ migration , ↑ migrant ; verb : ↑ migrate ; adjective : ↑ migratory ]
1 . someone who goes to live in another area or country, especially in order to find work ⇨ emigrant , immigrant
migrant worker/labourer
A lot of factory work is done by migrant workers.
economic migrant (=someone who goes to live in another country because they are likely to find a better job there)
2 . a bird or animal that travels regularly from one part of the world to another
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COLLOCATIONS
■ migrant + NOUN
▪ a migrant worker
The strawberries are picked by migrant workers.
▪ migrant labourer British English , migrant laborer American English
The centre houses 50 migrant labourers.
▪ migrant labour British English , migrant labor American English (=work done by migrants)
Many farms rely on migrant labour.
▪ a migrant population (=the migrants who live in a particular place)
The town has a large migrant popluation.
▪ the flow of migrants (=the movement of people to or from a place)
the increasing flow of migrants into California
▪ an influx of migrants (=the arrival of people in a particular place)
The growth of towns was due to an influx of migrants from the villages.
■ adjectives
▪ an illegal migrant
Thousands of illegal migrants were caught trying to cross the sea to England.
▪ an economic migrant (=someone who goes to another country to find a better job)
They are economic migrants, escaping terrible poverty in their home country.
▪ a rural migrant (=someone who moves from a country area to a city)
Rural migrants end up in the slums of Brasilia.
▪ a new/recent migrant
Some of the recent migrants have returned to their homes as the fighting finished.
■ verbs
▪ a migrant comes from/to a place
A majority of the migrants had come from this region.
▪ attract migrants (=make migrants want to come to a place)
The settlement attracted new migrants and it expanded quickly.