colony

¹

[kol-uh-nee]

noun

plural

colonies 

1. a country or territory claimed and forcibly taken control of by a foreign power which sends its own people to settle there.

   Many African nations are former European colonies.

2. a group of people who leave their native country to form a settlement in a territory that their own government has claimed and forcibly taken control of.

   The Spanish colony in Mexico was numerous, powerful, and rich.

3. any people or territory separated from but subject to a ruling power.

4. the Colonies, the British territories that formed the original 13 states of the United States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

5. a number of people coming from the same country or speaking the same language, residing in a foreign country or city or in a particular section of it; enclave.

   There is a sizable Polish colony in Israel.

6. 1. any group of individuals having similar interests, occupations, etc., usually living in a particular locality; community.

      After college she joined a colony of artists in Florence.

   2. the district, quarter, or dwellings inhabited by such a group.

      The Greek island is now an artists' colony.

   Synonyms: band, body

7. Microbiology.,  a collection or mass of bacteria growing together as the descendants of a single cell.

8. Ecology.,  a group of organisms of the same kind living or growing in close association.

Colony

²

[kol-uh-nee]

noun

1. The, a city in NE Texas.

colony

/ ˈkɒlənɪ /

noun

1. a body of people who settle in a country distant from their homeland but maintain ties with it

2. the community formed by such settlers

3. a subject territory occupied by a settlement from the ruling state

4. 1. a community of people who form a national, racial, or cultural minority

      an artists' colony

      the American colony in London

   2. the area itself

5. zoology

   1. a group of the same type of animal or plant living or growing together, esp in large numbers

   2. an interconnected group of polyps of a colonial organism

6. bacteriol a group of bacteria, fungi, etc, derived from one or a few spores, esp when grown on a culture medium

colony

1. A group of the same kind of animals, plants, or one-celled organisms living or growing together. Organisms live in colonies for their mutual benefit, and especially their protection. Multicellular organisms may have evolved out of colonies of unicellular organisms.

Other Word Forms

• semicolony noun
• subcolony noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of colony¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English colonie, from Middle French or directly from Latin colōnia, from colōn(us) colonus + -ia -y ³

Word History and Origins

Origin of colony¹

C16: from Latin colōnia, from colere to cultivate, inhabit

Example Sentences

The city now stretches as far eastwards as far as Bingerville, which was the first capital of the French colony in the early decades of the last century.

Read more on Barron's

Critics have also accused the ZANU-PF -- in power since independence in 1980 -- of stifling democracy and dissent in the former British colony.

Read more on Barron's

But the zoo said its gorilla colony remained being cared for by keepers at the closed site while work was completed on their new enclosure.

Read more on BBC

“We’re just a water colony,” Red Owl said as she drove from one well to another, passing dry, brown expanses with signs marking the land as L.A. city property.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The Habsburg rulers who joined Spain and its colonies with the Holy Roman Empire in Central Europe threw 16th-century France on the defensive.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• outpost 
• protectorate 
• province 
• territory