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.
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.
any people or territory separated from but subject to a ruling power.
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.
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.
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.
the district, quarter, or dwellings inhabited by such a group.
The Greek island is now an artists' colony.
Microbiology. a collection or mass of bacteria growing together as the descendants of a single cell.
Ecology. a group of organisms of the same kind living or growing in close association.
a body of people who settle in a country distant from their homeland but maintain ties with it
the community formed by such settlers
a subject territory occupied by a settlement from the ruling state
a community of people who form a national, racial, or cultural minority
an artists' colony
the American colony in London
the area itself
zoology
a group of the same type of animal or plant living or growing together, esp in large numbers
an interconnected group of polyps of a colonial organism
bacteriol a group of bacteria, fungi, etc, derived from one or a few spores, esp when grown on a culture medium
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English colonie, from Middle French or directly from Latin colōnia, from colōn(us) colonus + -ia -y 3
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.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Davji Bhimji Atellah, KMPDU's secretary general, said the union "will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate."
From BBC • May 29, 2026
Haiti became the first independent black nation in the Americas in 1804, after enslaved people rebelled against their French masters in what was then the colony of Saint-Domingue.
From Barron's • May 28, 2026
Presumably Musk’s dreamed-of colony on Mars would have other job opportunities, too.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026
Losing a queen throws a tropical wasp colony into turmoil, triggering violent power struggles and social breakdowns.
From Science Daily • May 26, 2026
The word colony gave its purpose away: the place was never meant to be a hospital or an asylum.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
