noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of settler
Explanation
A settler is a person who moves to a new place with the intention to stay there. Colonial America was built by settlers who came mainly from England. Settlers often think of themselves as being the first people to live in an area, although through history settlers moved to places already inhabited by native people. A settler's primary goal is to set up a home — claim land, build houses, and establish new towns with other settlers. The noun settler originally meant "thing that settles," though by the 1690s it was used to mean "person moving to a new country," from the Old English word setlan, "cause to place."
Vocabulary lists containing settler
The United States
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Canada - Introductory
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Canada - Middle School and High School
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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:
Some settler leaders have sought to distance themselves from the movement.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
It emerged in the early 2000s when factions of the settler movement turned against the government.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Israel Gantz, chairman of the Yesha Council, which represents the settlements, said the settler movement “will never accept violence.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
Al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, has seen repeated settler attacks.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
“But that ship you crashed in,” I say, “that’s way too tiny to be a settler ship.”
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
In the 1770s, Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza led an expedition of settlers into what would later become California, bringing donkeys and horses with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Al-Tubasi says that the Israeli security forces "essentially formed a barrier, took us out safely and got us away from there. But they did not take any action against the settlers themselves."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
But nearly two centuries ago, European settlers started fracturing this relationship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Mikhmas and the surrounding area have been subjected to several attacks by settlers since the beginning of this year.
From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026
Before the European settlers arrived and killed off most of the indigenous people, Greenbrier County was part of the Can-tuc-kee territory, where the Shawnee and Cherokee peoples lived.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
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.
