colonizer

[kol-uh-nahy-zer]

noun

1. 1. a nation or government that claims a territory other than its own, forcibly taking control over the population and resources located in that territory and usually sending some of its own people to settle there.

      In the past, whole continents have been appropriated by colonizers such as Britain, Spain, France, and Portugal.

   2. any of the settlers who come from such a nation to live in or help control the territory their government has claimed.

      The Red River was the scene of a major historic battle between European colonizers and Canada’s Indigenous people.

   3. Often Disparaging and Offensive.,  a descendant of any of these settlers, or any person belonging to their culture and enjoying the advantages of the power structure set up by the colonizing nation.

2. a person who is among the first to settle in an area.

   The initial colonizers of the Arctic were thought to have descended from inhabitants of the forested south.

3. Biology.,  a species of plant or animal that moves or is transported to a new habitat and seeks to establish itself there.

   Ecologists are interested in why some species are successful colonizers while others are not.

4. Microbiology, Medicine/Medical.,  a microbe that multiplies in or on another organism, especially one that does so without causing disease or infection, such as certain bacteria in the gut or on the skin of humans.

Word History and Origins

Origin of colonizer¹

First recorded in 1720–30; colonize ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Though colonizers tried to erase their traditions through forced conversion to Catholicism, enslaved Africans found ways to adapt and protect their spiritual practices.

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The colonizers introduced slavery to these shores two years before the first “Thanksgiving” in 1621.

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In a vicious cycle, colonizers or imperial powers justify their borders and walls in the name of “security” while protecting themselves from those desperate to escape their domination.

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It’s as if he’s claiming nature’s untrampled territory with his reverential gaze — a distinctly political act for a colonizer.

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The Spanish colonizers suppressed this intentional annual brush burning, claiming it was incompatible with agriculture.

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Related Words

• ruler