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

A room built for the NFL Rams and co-occupied by the squatter Chargers felt like a proper football cathedral.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

“At least I eat sometimes,” said Cedric Mnisi, 39, who lives in a squatter camp nearby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025

The woman whose keen eyes once watched over her family in the squalor of the squatter camps now lives in a world of darkness and sounds.

From BBC ● May 25, 2024

They then organized an election in which Scott triumphed, and he moved back to the squatter camp, taking Father Dlamini with him.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

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 said the former library building, which is being repurposed into an Asian Resource Centre, had also had squatters living in it.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025

The squatters considered the Muscogee Nation to be the main barrier to their permanent settlement in the region, particularly Georgia.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Related Words

• settler