colonist
Americannoun
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an inhabitant of a colony.
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a member of a colonizing expedition.
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(often initial capital letter) an inhabitant of the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America.
noun
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a person who settles or colonizes an area
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an inhabitant or member of a colony
Etymology
Origin of colonist
Explanation
A colonist is a member of a government-backed group that settles in a new country or region. The land that's claimed by a colonist is usually already occupied by another group of people. A colonist can also be called a settler, someone who helps start a settlement in a new land. You might think of colonial America and the original colonists, British subjects who settled along the eastern seaboard and claimed the land as their own, despite the presence of native people. Throughout history, colonists have tended to come from Western countries. At the heart of the word colonist is the Latin root colere, "to inhabit, tend, or guard."
Vocabulary lists containing colonist
The American Revolution - Introductory
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The American Revolution - Middle School and High School
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American Naturalization Test, List 3
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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.
However, the researchers report their work revealed the "richness, abundance and composition" of the bee populations were "signficantly impacted by agricultural colonization after as little as 10-17 years of settlement by colonist farmers and ranchers."
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2024
Pocahontas died several years later in March 1617 in Gravesend, England, while colonist John Rolfe died around March 1622, he added.
From BBC • Jan. 4, 2023
It stands on the site where Samuel de Champlain, the French colonist and navigator who founded Quebec and New France, built a chapel in 1633.
From Reuters • Jul. 28, 2022
A British colonist is sent to instigate a revolution on a Caribbean island instrumental to the sugar cane industry.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2019
Nor did the English regard the Dawnland wetu as primitive; its multiple layers of mats, which trapped insulating layers of air, were “warmer than our English houses,” sighed the colonist William Wood.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
