colonize

American  

[kol-uh-nahyz] / ˈkɒl əˌnaɪz /

especially British, colonise

verb (used with object)

colonizes, present (3rd person singular) colonized, past participle, past colonizing present participle

1. 1. (of a nation or government) to claim and forcibly take control of (a territory other than its own), usually sending some of its own people to settle there.

      England colonized Australia.

   2. to move from one’s own country and settle in (such a territory).

      Dutch farmers were among the first Europeans to colonize the river valleys of New Jersey and New York.

2. to be the first settlers in.

   Southern Pacific islanders are thought to have colonized Hawaii around a.d. 450.

3. to compel or induce (people) to settle in an area for economic or political purposes.

   The government made efforts to colonize laborers and their families in areas suitable for growing rice.

4. Biology. (of a species of plant or animal) to move or be transported to (a new habitat) and seek to become established there.

   Arthropods were the first animal species to colonize land around 450 million years ago.

5. Microbiology, Medicine/Medical. (of a microbe) to multiply on or in (another organism), especially without causing infection or disease.

   Researchers attempted to get the bacteria in a probiotic to successfully colonize the intestines of 23 volunteers.

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verb (used without object)

colonizes, present (3rd person singular) colonized, past participle, past colonizing present participle

1. to take control of or settle in territories other than one’s own.

   Many other European powers were colonizing during the modern period besides France.

   When the British colonized in Australia, the basic rights of Aboriginals were taken away.

colonize British  

/ ˈkɒləˌnaɪz /

verb

1. to send colonists to or establish a colony in (an area)

2. to settle in (an area) as colonists

3. (tr) to transform (a community) into a colony

4. (of plants and animals) to become established in (a new environment)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• colonizability
  noun
• colonization
  noun
• colonizationist
  noun
• colonizer
  noun
• intercolonization
  noun
• recolonization
  noun
• intercolonize
  verb
• recolonize
  verb (used with object)
• uncolonize
  verb (used with object)
• colonizable
  adjective
• well-colonized
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• colonizing
  present
• colonized
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• colonize
  simple
• colonizes
  simple
• have colonized
  perfect
• has colonized
  perfect
• am colonizing
  progressive
• are colonizing
  progressive
• is colonizing
  progressive
• have been colonizing
  perfect progressive
• has been colonizing
  perfect progressive

Past

• colonized
  simple
• had colonized
  perfect
• was colonizing
  progressive
• were colonizing
  progressive
• had been colonizing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will colonize
  simple
• will have colonized
  perfect
• will be colonizing
  progressive
• will have been colonizing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of colonize

First recorded in 1615–25; colon(y) + -ize

Explanation

To colonize is to settle in, and take control of, land outside your own borders. Usually, a large, powerful country colonizes a territory or area that's much less powerful. There are many examples through history of powerful countries that colonized various regions of the world in order to gain natural resources or to obtain more land for their citizens to live in. When this happens, it's rarely good news for the people who lived there already. Colonize and colony come from the Latin colonus, "tenant farmer" or "settler in new land," from the root colere, "to cultivate, till, or inhabit."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colonize colonizes colonized colonizing

One of the most striking findings was that E. americana accumulated almost exclusively inside tumors and did not colonize healthy organs.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

Every now and then sea lions try to colonize the docks used by boaters.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

Likewise, the U.S. early in World War II stopped Japan from seaborne oil imports—targeting the very vulnerability Tokyo had sought to offset by trying to colonize its resource-rich Asian neighbors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

The discovery could help explain how disease causing microbes manage to colonize medical devices, wounds, and food processing equipment.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 13, 2026

The last thing he wanted now was for Mama to colonize his kitchen or use Olanna’s favorite saucepan for her strong-smelling soup.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In their native Japan, the East Asian Joro spider colonizes most of the country.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 13, 2024

Despite its gruesome appearance, this mushroom is beneficial for the coniferous trees it colonizes.

From Salon ● Apr. 30, 2023

The fungus colonizes the trays, resulting in a material that, through an undisclosed proprietary procedure, looks and feels like leather, according to the company.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 28, 2022

Abby Lloyd’s show “Goodbye Dolly” consists of precisely one work: a huge, 12 foot-tall rag doll that colonizes an entire end of the gallery, an 11th-floor prow-shaped apartment in Greenwich Village.

From New York Times ● Nov. 10, 2021

It colonizes their bodies, spreads to their tissue and muscles and blood and cells.

From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon

He adds: "We are particularly interested in investigating the environments they colonized and speciated in, especially in ecosystems dominated by large apex predators such as abelisaurids and megaraptorans."

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026

Before Europeans colonized North America, bald eagles were pretty much everywhere there was a river, lake, or stream large enough to support sizable fish.

From Slate ● Feb. 21, 2026

It accounts for more than 200,000 jobs and has colonized entire neighborhoods.

From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026

Puerto Rico was first colonized by the Spanish from 1493 until 1898, the year that the United States occupied the country as part of the Spanish-American War.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 5, 2026

Greenland trainees'd colonized the whole lounge of the Hotel Excalibur.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

SpaceX has big dreams, including colonizing Mars, operating orbital data centers and putting a mass driver on the moon that would make it easier to put satellites in orbit.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

Because wolves are not capable of naturally colonizing such an island across open sea, researchers believe humans must have brought the animals there, likely by boat.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026

SpaceX has already sparked a nascent space economy, and Musk has a long-term vision of a multiplanetary future that includes AI data centers in orbit and colonizing Mars.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

At this point in his public arc, his affinity for the material is more like a colonizing claim.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

Once Spain had thus launched the European colonization of America, other European states saw the wealth flowing into Spain, and six more joined in colonizing America.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• conquer