colonize

[kol-uh-nahyz]

verb (used with object), col·o·nized, col·o·niz·ing.

to establish a colony in; settle: England colonized Australia.

to form a colony of: to colonize laborers in a mining region.

verb (used without object), col·o·nized, col·o·niz·ing.

to form a colony: They went out to Australia to colonize.

to settle in a colony.

Also especially British, col·o·nise.

Origin of colonize

First recorded in 1615–25; colon(y) + -ize

Related formscol·o·niz·a·ble, adjectivecol·o·niz·a·bil·i·ty, nouncol·o·ni·za·tion, nouncol·o·ni·za·tion·ist, nouncol·o·niz·er, nounin·ter·col·o·ni·za·tion, nounin·ter·col·o·nize, verb, in·ter·col·o·nized, in·ter·col·o·niz·ing.re·col·o·ni·za·tion, nounre·col·o·nize, verb (used with object), re·col·o·nized, re·col·o·niz·ing.un·col·o·nize, verb (used with object), un·col·o·nized, un·col·o·niz·ing.well-col·o·nized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for colonise

Historical Examples of colonise

It was hunting that settled the Pelhams in a remote country and led them to colonise a waste.
A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses
J. S. Rarey
Rumour says that your Government is going to send out a strong party of emigrants to colonise the eastern frontier.
The Settler and the Savage
R.M. Ballantyne
Old Jacob foretold that Joseph would be a fruitful bough, whose branches would run over the wall—that is, colonise.
The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882
Joseph Wild
He will discover, he will colonise, he will do all manner of beautiful things, at second hand: but he himself will be a courtier.
Sir Walter Raleigh and his Time
Charles Kingsley
For want of territory to colonise under her own flag, Japan has lost many subjects to alien flags.
Problems of the Pacific
Frank Fox

British Dictionary definitions for colonise

colonize

colonise

verb

to send colonists to or establish a colony in (an area)

to settle in (an area) as colonists

(tr) to transform (a community) into a colony

(of plants and animals) to become established in (a new environment)

Derived Formscolonizable or colonisable, adjectivecolonization or colonisation, nouncolonizer or coloniser, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for colonise

colonize

1620s, "to settle with colonists," from stem of Latin colonus "tiller of the soil, farmer" (see colony); in sense "to make another place into a national dependency" without regard for settlement there by 1790s (e.g. in reference to French activity in Egypt or British work in India), and probably directly from colony.

No principle ought ever to be tolerated or acted upon, that does not proceed on the basis of India being considered as the temporary residence of a great British Establishment, for the good government of the country, upon steady and uniform principles, and of a large British factory, for the beneficial management of its trade, upon rules applicable to the state and manners of the country. [Henry Dundas, Chairman of the East-India Company, letter, April 2, 1800]

Related: Colonized; colonizing.