settlement

American  

[set-l-muhnt] / ˈsɛt l mənt /

noun

• settlements
  plural

1. the act or state of settling or the state of being settled.

2. the act of making stable or putting on a permanent basis.

3. a state of stability or permanence.

4. an arrangement or adjustment, as of business affairs or a disagreement.

5. an agreement signed after labor negotiations between union and management.

6. the terms reached in this agreement.

7. the settling of persons in a new country or place.

8. a colony, especially in its early stages.

9. a small community, village, or group of houses in a thinly populated area.

10. a community formed and populated by members of a particular religious or ideological group.

    a Shaker settlement.

11. the satisfying of a claim or demand; a coming to terms.

12. Law.

    1. final disposition of an estate or the like.

    2. the settling of property, title, etc., upon a person.

    3. the property so settled.

13. British.

    1. legal residence in a specific place.

    2. (of a pauper) the right to claim food and shelter from an official agency or specific town or district.

14. Also called settlement house.  Social Work. an establishment in an underprivileged area providing social services to local residents.

15. a subsidence or sinking of all or part of a structure.

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settlement British  

/ ˈsɛtəlmənt /

noun

1. the act or state of settling or being settled

2. the establishment of a new region; colonization

3. a place newly settled; colony

4. a collection of dwellings forming a community, esp on a frontier

5. a community formed by members of a group, esp of a religious sect

6. a public building used to provide educational and general welfare facilities for persons living in deprived areas

7. a subsidence of all or part of a structure

8. 1. the payment of an outstanding account, invoice, charge, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      settlement day

9. an adjustment or agreement reached in matters of finance, business, etc

10. law

    1. a conveyance, usually to trustees, of property to be enjoyed by several persons in succession

    2. the deed or other instrument conveying such property

    3. the determination of a dispute, etc, by mutual agreement without resorting to legal proceedings

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonsettlement
  noun
• oversettlement
  noun
• presettlement
  noun
• resettlement
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• settlements
  plural

Etymology

Origin of settlement

First recorded in 1620–30; settle ¹ + -ment

Explanation

A settlement is a colony or any small community of people. If a bunch of people build houses on the moon together, they’ll have the first lunar settlement. A settlement is also the resolution of something such as a lawsuit. One kind of settlement is a place where people live. This can be a community that's smaller than a town, like a village. Also, if one country establishes a colony somewhere else, that can be called a settlement. The other kind of settlement happens when something is settled, like the end of a disagreement. A lawsuit is ended if there's a settlement — both parties make an agreement that often involves money. A settlement brings closure and resolution.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

settlement settlements

Another possibility is that it arrived with a new resident who brought different pottery traditions to the settlement.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026

Maurice Hastings, 70, who spent 38 years in prison before being found factually innocent, accepted a $25-million settlement from the city of Inglewood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

It was not immediately clear what the settlement funds will be used for.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Former Plymouth Royal Marine Edward Hill, who first logged the case in 2019, said while he was disappointed there had been "no accountability" the group were overall "happy with the settlement".

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The term conveyed the political fear, so potent among the Antifederalist critics of the constitutional settlement of 1788, that the states would be absorbed by the new federal government.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Kadim is the last of the settlements evacuated in 2005 to reopen.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

As a public service corporation, the BBC operates under a royal charter that explicitly bars it from entering into out-of-court financial settlements to make litigation disappear.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

He has filed meritless lawsuits against media companies and social media platforms and extorted large monetary settlements.

From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026

Through the settlements, Houck said she hoped Charter would address a disparity in which low-income residents are often stuck with bigger phone and internet bills than residents in more affluent areas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Between 3200 and 2500 B.C., large-scale public buildings, the temple at Huari- canga among them, rose up in at least seven settlements on the Peruvian coast—an extraordinary efflorescence for that time and place.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Related Words

• agreement
• arrangement
• compensation
• contract
• deal
• establishment
• payment
• resolution