Dictionary

colonize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɑlənaɪz/ (General-American)
• /ˈkɔlənɑjz/ (British, Southern, Standard)
• /ˈkɒlənaɪz/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁eti Proto-Italic *kʷelō Latin colō Latin colōnus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin colōniader. Middle English colane English colony Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English colonize From colony + -ize.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To settle (a place) with colonists, and hence make (a place) into a colony.
   • When you are colonized by dangerous bacteria their presence in your body does no damage. You become a reservoir for those little stinkers. 2011, Steven Z. Kussin, Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now, page 241:
2. (transitive) To settle among and establish control over (the indigenous people of an area).
   • The administration finally sent a naval vessel to return the 368 survivors to the United States in 1864. This ended official efforts to colonize blacks. 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 509:
3. (intransitive) To begin a colony or colonies.
4. (broadly, transitive) To intrude into and take over (the autonomy, experience, social movement, etc, of a less powerful person or group); to commandeer or appropriate.
   • The burden of judgment imposed by the politics of respectability can easily colonize black minds. 2017, Christopher J. Lebron, The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea, →ISBN:
   • These award-winning works of nature writing have extended and enhanced a genre that Jamie herself has criticised, describing it as “colonised by middle-class white men”. 2021 August 23, Libby Brooks, quoting Kathleen Jamie, “Scotland’s new makar Kathleen Jamie: ‘Poetry is at the heart of our culture’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
   • What disservice would be done if issues regarding sexualities in organisations were side-lined by a heteronormative impetus to colonise queer theory? 2011, Key Concepts in Critical Management Studies, →ISBN:
   • […] suggesting that organisational discourses of heteronormativity cannot fully colonise gay sexualities and genders. 2016, Nick Rumens, Queer Company: The Role and Meaning of Friendship in Gay Men's Work, →ISBN:
   • To have our grief colonized to facilitate a racist political agenda was beyond offensive. 2017 June 13, One Year After Pulse, Don't You Dare Come for Any of Us (Lambda Legal)
   • For slavery aimed not only to colonize black women's bodies, sex, and sexuality, to undermine her, it sought to subvert and destroy any authentic relationship between black women and black men as well as among black women themselves. 2015, Kwok Pui-Lan, Laura E. Donaldson, Postcolonialism, Feminism and Religious Discourse, →ISBN:

Forms

Deriveds

self-colonize · colonization · neo-colonize · precolonized · decolonize · monocolonize · hypercolonize · uncolonized · colonizable · recolonize · noncolonized · colonizer · colonizee · uncolonize

Relateds

colonial · colonist · colony · colonialism

Translations (57)

cs kolonizovat (intransitive: to begin a colony) · sh kolonizírati (intransitive: to begin a colony) · arz استعمر (intransitive: to begin a colony) · sq kolonizoj (intransitive: to begin a colony) · uk заселя́ти (intransitive: to begin a colony) · az müstəmləkələşdirmək (intransitive: to begin a colony) · de kolonisieren (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · sv kolonisera (intransitive: to begin a colony) · fr coloniser (intransitive: to begin a colony) · af koloniseer (intransitive: to begin a colony) · pt colonizar (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · ca colonitzar (intransitive: to begin a colony) · cmn 拓殖 (intransitive: to begin a colony) · grc ἀποικίζω (intransitive: to begin a colony) · cmn 殖民 (intransitive: to begin a colony) · nl koloniseren (intransitive: to begin a colony) · pl skolonizować (intransitive: to begin a colony) · fr coloniser (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · it colonizzare (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · uk колонізува́ти (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · it colonizzare (intransitive: to begin a colony) · mk колонизи́ра (intransitive: to begin a colony) · be каланізава́ць (intransitive: to begin a colony) · ro coloniza (intransitive: to begin a colony) · fi asuttaa (intransitive: to begin a colony) · es colonizar (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · nb kolonisere (intransitive: to begin a colony) · oc colonizar (intransitive: to begin a colony) · el αποικίσει (intransitive: to begin a colony) · da kolonisere (intransitive: to begin a colony) · sl kolonizirati (intransitive: to begin a colony) · hu gyarmatosít (intransitive: to begin a colony) · fa-ira اِسْتِعْمار کَرْدَن (intransitive: to begin a colony) · lv kolonizēt (intransitive: to begin a colony) · ru колонизи́ровать (intransitive: to begin a colony) · hu kolonizál (intransitive: to begin a colony) · sk kolonizovať (intransitive: to begin a colony) · yi קאָלאָניזירן (intransitive: to begin a colony) · bg колонизи́рам (intransitive: to begin a colony) · tr sömürgeleştirmek (intransitive: to begin a colony) · gl colonizar (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony) · pl kolonizować (intransitive: to begin a colony) · gl colonizar (intransitive: to begin a colony) · pt colonizar (intransitive: to begin a colony) · uk засели́ти (intransitive: to begin a colony) · es colonizar (intransitive: to begin a colony) · qu mitmay (intransitive: to begin a colony) · fi kolonisoida (intransitive: to begin a colony) · ast colonizar (intransitive: to begin a colony) · lt kolonizuoti (intransitive: to begin a colony) · mi whakakoroni (intransitive: to begin a colony) · mr वसाहत करणे (intransitive: to begin a colony) · sh колонизи́рати (intransitive: to begin a colony) · lb koloniséieren (intransitive: to begin a colony) · uk колонізува́ти (intransitive: to begin a colony) · de kolonisieren (intransitive: to begin a colony) · mk колонизи́ра (transitive: to make (a place) into a colony)