squatter

American  

[skwot-er] / ˈskwɒt ər /

noun

• squatters
  plural

1. a person or thing that squats.

2. a person who settles on land or occupies property without title, right, or payment of rent.

3. a person who settles on land under government regulation, in order to acquire title.

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squatter British  

/ ˈskwɒtə /

noun

1. a person who occupies property or land to which he has no legal title

2. 1. (formerly) a person who occupied a tract of land, esp pastoral land, as tenant of the Crown

   2. a farmer of sheep or cattle on a large scale

3. (in New Zealand) a 19th-century settler who took up large acreage on a Crown lease

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• squatterdom
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• squatters
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of squatter

First recorded in 1775–85; squat + -er ¹

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Explanation

A squatter is someone who lives on unoccupied land or in a vacant building without permission from the owner. Some squatters move into abandoned homes because they have nowhere else to live, while others are part of social movements that see squatting as a response to political and economic systems that have made housing inaccessible for many. While in some places it's a crime to be a squatter, other jurisdictions view squatting as a conflict between the squatter and the owner. An earlier definition of squatter was "settler who doesn't (yet) have a title to the land."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

squatter squatters

The iPhone Duo is squatter than a traditional iPhone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

A room built for the NFL Rams and co-occupied by the squatter Chargers felt like a proper football cathedral.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

Animal control officers from Pasadena Humane confirmed that a bear was living under an Altadena house Sunday but could not be sure if the latest bear squatter was the same bruin from the earlier incident.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2026

The woman whose keen eyes once watched over her family in the squalor of the squatter camps now lives in a world of darkness and sounds.

From BBC ● May 25, 2024

The idea caught on in a big way, and trailer parks across the country had quickly evolved into “stacks” like this one—strange hybrids of shantytowns, squatter settlements, and refugee camps.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

The vans belong to young Israeli squatters who play their own waiting game, smoking cigarettes and milling about.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

A security guard stood in front of the cabana to stop any would-be squatters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

In his video, Mr Perry said when squatters were staying in the building it had been "sectioned off into bedrooms" and "rented out to people in the most vulnerable of conditions".

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025

Several dozen empty trailers that drew squatters and sparked a legal battle in Los Angeles County are now creating a major headache for neighbors and officials in Riverside County.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025

They would need mercenaries, so officers recruited men from militias made up of squatters from Kentucky.

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

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Related Words

• settler

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