colonial

American  

[kuh-loh-nee-uhl] / kəˈloʊ ni əl /

adjective

1. of, concerning, or pertaining to a colony or colonies.

   the colonial policies of France.

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

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

4. Ecology. forming a colony.

5. (initial capital letter)

   1. 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.

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

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noun

• colonials
  plural

1. an inhabitant of a colony.

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

colonial British  

/ 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)

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

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

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

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

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

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noun

1. a native of a colony

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• noncolonial
  adjective
• procolonial
  adjective
• semicolonial
  adjective
• uncolonial
  adjective
• colonially
  adverb
• noncolonially
  adverb
• semicolonially
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• colonials
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colonial

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

Explanation

The colonial period of United States history occurred before 1776, when America was still 13 colonies under British rule. You can use the word colonial to describe an inhabitant of a colony ruled by another country, but you wouldn’t call a painter living in an artists' colony a colonial. On the other hand, ants, which live in ant colonies, are colonial insects. British colonial is a style of furniture the British favored for their houses and tents in India or on safari in Africa — when India and parts of Africa were British colonies.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colonial colonials

Later that summer they told British colonial authorities that they were actually Swiss and named Beuret.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

The two of them live on-site in what looks like a family home straight out of a 1990s Disney film, a white colonial home with blue shutters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

North Korea has recently been hurling criticism at Japan, a former regional colonial power, over what Pyongyang describes as its remilitarisation.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

Head of Marine at the Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Georgia de Jong Cleyndert, said although the "incredible" blue creatures looked like jellyfish, they were actually colonial hydrozoans.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

Franklin’s ancestors may have emigrated from Europe to escape oppressive rules, but colonial societies were still vastly more coercive and class- ridden than indigenous villages.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Their seasoned troops, reinforced by Hessian mercenaries, faced an amateurish and poorly provisioned army of colonials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

Proponents of prohibition argued that drinking culture was alien to India – while that’s debatable, the colonials filled their coffers with the liquor tax and certainly encouraged it.

From Salon ● Feb. 2, 2025

The houses — in a mix of styles including split-levels and Dutch colonials — are on quarter-acre lots surrounded by mature trees and shrubs.

From Washington Post ● May 11, 2022

In western and southern 22207, new construction is beginning to overtake the postwar ranches, colonials, and split-levels built in the first wave of suburbanization.

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2020

Fortunately there were all sorts and types of colonials.

From "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie