squatter

American  

[skwot-er] / ˈskwɒt ər /

noun

squatters plural

1. a person or thing that squats.

2. a person who settles on land or occupies property without title, right, or payment of rent.

3. a person who settles on land under government regulation, in order to acquire title.

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squatter British  

/ ˈskwɒtə /

noun

1. a person who occupies property or land to which he has no legal title

2. 1. (formerly) a person who occupied a tract of land, esp pastoral land, as tenant of the Crown

   2. a farmer of sheep or cattle on a large scale

3. (in New Zealand) a 19th-century settler who took up large acreage on a Crown lease

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• squatterdom
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• squatters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of squatter

First recorded in 1775–85; squat + -er ¹

Explanation

A squatter is someone who lives on unoccupied land or in a vacant building without permission from the owner. Some squatters move into abandoned homes because they have nowhere else to live, while others are part of social movements that see squatting as a response to political and economic systems that have made housing inaccessible for many. While in some places it's a crime to be a squatter, other jurisdictions view squatting as a conflict between the squatter and the owner. An earlier definition of squatter was "settler who doesn't (yet) have a title to the land."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

squatter squatters

But there is still so much darkness in “The Grapes of Wrath,” especially in its scenes of John Qualen’s Muley Graves, crumpled on the ground, suddenly a squatter on his own piece of land.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Patent and Trademark Office, Tesla described its adversary as “a bad-faith trademark squatter, who started as a Tesla fan,” and described the French company’s attempt to trademark the Cybercab moniker as fraudulent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 16, 2026

She excelled on stage and screen in Alan Bennett’s “The Lady in the Van,” playing a crotchety squatter with an imperious sense of entitlement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024

Once upon a time, on June 15, 1859, 27-year-old Lyman Cutlar, a squatter on the island, discovered a pig pillaging his potatoes.

From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024

The idea caught on in a big way, and trailer parks across the country had quickly evolved into “stacks” like this one—strange hybrids of shantytowns, squatter settlements, and refugee camps.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

A security guard stood in front of the cabana to stop any would-be squatters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

The corner lot on which the club stands is now surrounded by hundreds of dilapidated and abandoned buildings occupied by squatters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025

In his video, Mr Perry said when squatters were staying in the building it had been "sectioned off into bedrooms" and "rented out to people in the most vulnerable of conditions".

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025

He maintains that the tree house is structurally sound and secured from potential intruders or squatters with multiple locking gates.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025

Not exactly clean of us, but it was better than alerting the management they had hosted a bunch of squatters for the night.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

Related Words

• settler