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:
Al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, has seen repeated settler attacks.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
"In every single instance, it was the settler kids who approached Finn," fellow activist Matthew, who declined to give his surname, told the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
One Palestinian living within sight of Havat Gilad told me she watched the outpost from her window constantly, for signs of an imminent settler attack.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
The number of settler attacks has risen each year since 2023, according to the United Nations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026
Winning the vote for settler women in the West was one thing; winning it for women in the rest of the nation was something else again.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
The incident has further raised the temperature in the West Bank, where increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians in recent months have drawn international condemnation.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
"Back then, the settlers were living alongside us, and we coexisted peacefully. They lived their lives and we lived ours," he told me.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
"The settlers come in freely into my house and they're not doing anything," he said of the soldiers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Under US pressure, the Israeli military said last week it had given orders to remove the settlers.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
All ruled by their larger, human-like cousins, the immortal Fae—the original inhabitants and settlers of the continent, and the oldest beings in Erilea.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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.
