MEANING
To establish settlements and political or economic control in a territory through people arriving from elsewhere.
Use it for
Colonial spatial history; imposed settlement; unequal control over placesMake settlement part of a history of power rather than a neutral change of address.
Words that belong together
- colonize a territory
- colonize a region
- formerly colonized territory
On the page
The empire colonized the region while denying its inhabitants a role in government.
Naming the settlement required confronting who had colonized whose land.
After independence, the formerly colonized territory restored several local place names.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- colonize / colonizes
- Past tense
- colonized
- Past participle
- colonized
- Present participle
- colonizing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- colonize / colonizes
- Present continuous
- am/is/are colonizing
- Present perfect
- have/has colonized
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been colonizing
- Past
- colonized
- Past continuous
- was/were colonizing
- Past perfect
- had colonized
- Past perfect continuous
- had been colonizing
- Future
- will colonize / colonizes
- Future continuous
- will be colonizing
- Future perfect
- will have colonized
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been colonizing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: setting. Historical and political setting sense. Do not imply that a colonized territory was empty or that colonization was benign; biological colonization is a separate use. Base colonize; third-person colonizes; past/past participle colonized; present participle colonizing. Also colonise, colonises, colonised, colonising, chiefly British. Derived noun colonization/colonisation is not an inflection.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.