colonize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to settle people in a territory and establish political control over it, often displacing or subjugating its existing inhabitants

   European powers sought to colonize large parts of the Americas.

2. 2
   verb

   of a species or microorganism: to settle in a habitat, surface, or host and establish a reproducing population

   The seabirds rapidly colonize islands where introduced predators have been removed.

Formed from colony + -ize. Colony came through Latin colonia, 'settlement or farm,' from colonus, 'farmer or settler,' and colere, 'to cultivate or inhabit.' The political sense developed around overseas settlement and rule; biology later adopted the word for organisms establishing a population.

Topics