postcolonial

adjective

post·​co·​lo·​nial ˌpōst-kə-ˈlō-nē-əl 

-nyəl

: of, relating to, or being a time after colonialism

postcolonial America

Carter was the first American president to take seriously the entire postcolonial era that has remade the globe since World War II.

—Garry Wills

Examples of postcolonial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Having avoided the subsequent turbulent decolonization movements experienced by, say, France, Great Britain or Belgium throughout the 1950s and ’60s, Italy has largely been able to avoid postcolonial animosity, enabling it to maintain ambiguous ties with African and Arab states. — Kaitlyn Rabe, The Conversation, 16 June 2026

In some ways this is like many postcolonial nations in the Global South, although Norway’s claims to being a postcolonial country recently freed from the shackles of foreign domination are difficult to sustain in the face of its treatment of indigenous people like the Sámi. — Ola Morris Innset, The Dial, 2 June 2026

The language first reached the continent in the early twentieth century and gained popularity during the postcolonial era as a politically neutral replacement for the still-persistent languages of European colonizers. — Katie Thornton, Harpers Magazine, 26 May 2026

The postal subsidy helped enhance paper circulation both in the colonial and postcolonial periods. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for postcolonial

• baronial
• colonial
• anticolonial
• intercolonial
• neocolonial
• antimonial
• ceremonial
• matrimonial
• precolonial
• testimonial