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Synonyms

colonize

American

[kol-uh-nahyz] / ˈkɒl əˌnaɪz /

especially British, colonise

verb (used with object)

1. (of a nation or government) to claim and forcibly take control of (a territory other than its own), usually sending some of its own people to settle there.
  
  England colonized Australia.
2. to move from one’s own country and settle in (such a territory).
  
  Dutch farmers were among the first Europeans to colonize the river valleys of New Jersey and New York.
to be the first settlers in.

Southern Pacific islanders are thought to have colonized Hawaii around a.d. 450.
to compel or induce (people) to settle in an area for economic or political purposes.

The government made efforts to colonize laborers and their families in areas suitable for growing rice.
Biology. (of a species of plant or animal) to move or be transported to (a new habitat) and seek to become established there.

Arthropods were the first animal species to colonize land around 450 million years ago.
Microbiology, Medicine/Medical. (of a microbe) to multiply on or in (another organism), especially without causing infection or disease.

Researchers attempted to get the bacteria in a probiotic to successfully colonize the intestines of 23 volunteers.

verb (used without object)

to take control of or settle in territories other than one’s own.

Many other European powers were colonizing during the modern period besides France.
When the British colonized in Australia, the basic rights of Aboriginals were taken away.

colonize British

/ ˈkɒləˌnaɪz /

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)

"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

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Etymology

Origin of colonize

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

Explanation

To colonize is to settle in, and take control of, land outside your own borders. Usually, a large, powerful country colonizes a territory or area that's much less powerful. There are many examples through history of powerful countries that colonized various regions of the world in order to gain natural resources or to obtain more land for their citizens to live in. When this happens, it's rarely good news for the people who lived there already. Colonize and colony come from the Latin colonus, "tenant farmer" or "settler in new land," from the root colere, "to cultivate, till, or inhabit."

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Vocabulary lists containing colonize

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

colonize colonizes colonized colonizing

By the end of the 16th century, travel accounts by English explorers inspired efforts to colonize the Carolina coast.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

That’s impressive given that, by Musk’s own math, something in the order of $1 trillion is required to colonize Mars—if he can finally get the company’s delayed, giant spaceship working.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

The discovery that bacteria can colonize surfaces even when their normal swimming machinery fails has important health implications.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2026

The discovery could help explain how disease causing microbes manage to colonize medical devices, wounds, and food processing equipment.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2026

Despite Magellan’s death, Spaniards continued to colonize the islands.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

In their native Japan, the East Asian Joro spider colonizes most of the country.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2024

“Once it colonizes the root system and displays visible mushrooms, the fungus is well progressed within the tree,” Crooks says.

From New York Times ● Nov. 24, 2022

The fungus colonizes the trays, resulting in a material that, through an undisclosed proprietary procedure, looks and feels like leather, according to the company.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 28, 2022

Sometimes a fraction of a population breaks away and colonizes a new habitat.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018

What he feels on the worst days of that relentless winter—while rust colonizes the truck and rifles and radios, while German divisions retreat all around them—is a deep scorn for all the humans they pass.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

The later microbes could have colonized the body while it remained frozen in the glacier or during more than 30 years of modern conservation.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 7, 2026

Still, some Puerto Ricans such as Díaz view the topic as part of the island’s history, initially brought to the Caribbean by 16th-century Spaniards when the island was first colonized.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

Before Europeans colonized North America, bald eagles were pretty much everywhere there was a river, lake, or stream large enough to support sizable fish.

From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026

It accounts for more than 200,000 jobs and has colonized entire neighborhoods.

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

In other words, just one group of paleo- Indians colonized the Americas, but it did so two or three times.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Around 12 million years ago, the development of the circumpolar current helped other penguin groups spread through the sub-Antarctic, eventually colonizing remote islands and archipelagoes and reaching as far north as Africa and South America.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

SpaceX has big dreams, including colonizing Mars, operating orbital data centers and putting a mass driver on the moon that would make it easier to put satellites in orbit.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

At this point in his public arc, his affinity for the material is more like a colonizing claim.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

That valuation is largely based on faith that Musk can deliver on his ambitions to vastly expand his Starlink satellite business, put data centers into space using SpaceX rockets, as well as begin colonizing Mars.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

Why did Austronesian people, stemming ultimately from mainland China, colonize Java and the rest of Indonesia and replace the original inhabitants there, instead of Indonesians colonizing China and replacing the Chinese?

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023