Jump To:

• colony
  colony

  noun

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

  noun

  The, a city in NE Texas.

colony

¹ American  

[kol-uh-nee] / ˈkɒl ə ni /

noun

• colonies
  plural

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 American  

[kol-uh-nee] / ˈkɒl ə ni /

noun

1. The, a city in NE Texas.

---

colony British  

/ 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 Scientific  

/ kŏl′ə-nē /

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

Derived Forms

• semicolony
  noun
• subcolony
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• colonies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of colony

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

Explanation

A colony is a group of people who settle in a new place but keep ties to their homeland. The people who founded the United States first came to America to live as part of a British colony. Colony comes from the Latin colonia, meaning "settled land, farm." Colony can also mean "a group of people who've gathered to live near each other and share the same interest." An artists' colony would be a place where everyone's an artist, while a Dunkin' Donuts colony would be full of coffee lovers. The same rules apply to the animal kingdom — an ant colony has a shared interest in ruining your picnic.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colony Colony colonies

In “Empire and Frontier,” Samuel Marquis focuses on the conflict’s tumultuous consequences for England’s colony of New York, and for its northern neighbors, the Five Nations of the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

After the English took control of the colony in 1664, Dutch influence endured in the upper Hudson Valley, reflected in the colonists’ attitudes toward the region’s indigenous population.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

“The Rivals of Amziah King” is the story of one queen replacing another in order to keep the colony intact, but we’re not talking about bees at this point.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

The site was home to scarce plants including pyramidal and bee orchids, and a rare colony of marbled white butterflies that had relied on common knapweed and red fescue.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Smaller tunnels branch off the main chamber, like a massive glowing version of Lita’s fire ant colony sculpture.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Located just over an hour away from his Malibu Colony retreat, the funky dwelling, which is set on 5.7 acres, has a total of five bedrooms and five bathrooms.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

Henry Vane the Younger fled to America from England in 1635 and was elected, at age 23, as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

The Plymouth Colony, Mr. Reynolds writes, stood out to later Americans as “a beacon of democratic experimentation and egalitarianism.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

Two months later, Colony Capital bought the defaulted loan for $22.5 million.

From MarketWatch ● May 5, 2026

Notice that the man on the official seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is shown wearing only a bunch of leaves.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

In eusocial colonies, reproduction is divided between queens and workers, creating highly cooperative societies with specialized roles.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

France and Britain housed small communities from former colonies—an immigration pattern so mundane that 1960s France let citizens of former West African colonies fly into Paris without a passport.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

The authors, both entomologists, detail violent territorial battles between colonies and against invading predators.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Emily Burton, conservation manager, said: "Gannet populations have suffered significant declines, and many colonies are still recovering from the impacts of avian influenza."

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

The Germans were required to disarm, to surrender their overseas colonies, and to pay massive reparations for the losses suffered by the Allies.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

Related Words

• outpost
• protectorate
• province
• territory