squatter
Americannoun
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a person or thing that squats.
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a person who settles on land or occupies property without title, right, or payment of rent.
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a person who settles on land under government regulation, in order to acquire title.
noun
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a person who occupies property or land to which he has no legal title
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(formerly) a person who occupied a tract of land, esp pastoral land, as tenant of the Crown
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a farmer of sheep or cattle on a large scale
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(in New Zealand) a 19th-century settler who took up large acreage on a Crown lease
Other Word Forms
- squatterdom noun
Etymology
Origin of squatter
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."
Vocabulary lists containing squatter
Trash
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Patron Saints of Nothing
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for March 12–March 18, 2022
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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.
Patent and Trademark Office, Tesla said Unibev was “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
Animal control officers from Pasadena Humane confirmed that a bear was living under an Altadena house Sunday but could not be sure if the latest bear squatter was the same bruin from the earlier incident.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 13, 2026
As the sun rose, the squatter camp gradually vanished under the earth.
From BBC • May 25, 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
Tecumseh visited other nations, calling for unity in defiance of the squatter presence on their lands.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
