colonial

[ kuh-loh-nee-uhl ]
See synonyms for: colonialcolonials on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. of, concerning, or pertaining to a colony or colonies: the colonial policies of France.

  2. of, concerning, or pertaining to colonialism; colonialistic.

  1. (often initial capital letter) pertaining to the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America, or to their period.

  2. Ecology. forming a colony.

  3. (initial capital letter)Architecture, Furniture.

    • noting or pertaining to the styles of architecture, ornament, and furnishings of the British colonies in America in the 17th and 18th centuries, mainly adapted to local materials and demands from prevailing English styles.

    • noting or pertaining to various imitations of the work of American colonial artisans.

noun
  1. an inhabitant of a colony.

  2. a house in or imitative of the Colonial style.

Origin of colonial

1
An Americanism dating back to 1770–80; colony + -al1

Other words from colonial

  • co·lo·ni·al·ly, adverb
  • non·co·lo·ni·al, adjective, noun
  • non·co·lo·ni·al·ly, adverb
  • pro·co·lo·ni·al, adjective, noun
  • sem·i·co·lo·ni·al, adjective
  • sem·i·co·lo·ni·al·ly, adverb
  • un·co·lo·ni·al, adjective

Words Nearby colonial

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use colonial in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for colonial

colonial

/ (kəˈləʊnɪəl) /


adjective
  1. of, characteristic of, relating to, possessing, or inhabiting a colony or colonies

  2. (often capital) characteristic of or relating to the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America (1776)

  1. (often capital) of or relating to the colonies of the British Empire

  2. denoting, relating to, or having the style of Neoclassical architecture used in the British colonies in America in the 17th and 18th centuries

  3. of or relating to the period of Australian history before Federation (1901)

  4. (of organisms such as corals and bryozoans) existing as a colony of polyps

  5. (of animals and plants) having become established in a community in a new environment

noun
  1. a native of a colony

Derived forms of colonial

  • colonially, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012