as in to inhabit
to supply with inhabitants
believes that someday humans will be sent to colonize Mars
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Recent Examples of colonize
Del Toro’s character points out to DiCaprio that people like him—the indigenous, the colonized, the Zapatistas, the rebels in the hills of Cuba—have been fighting the American machine for several hundred years, which is only now being felt by those of liberal sentiment.
—
Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Eventually, the natural fungal spores will colonize, and decomposition will begin.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 4 Oct. 2025
An endophyte might not even colonize the target plant—something Rayner noticed nearly a century ago.
—Anna Marija Helt, JSTOR Daily, 17 Sep. 2025
Birds carry small organisms, such as plants and insects, over long distances to colonize remote polar regions.
—Kate Wong, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for colonize
Literary Hub, 7 Oct. 2025
Eventually, the natural fungal spores will colonize, and decomposition will begin.
—Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 4 Oct. 2025
An endophyte might not even colonize the target plant—something Rayner noticed nearly a century ago.
—Anna Marija Helt, JSTOR Daily, 17 Sep. 2025
Birds carry small organisms, such as plants and insects, over long distances to colonize remote polar regions.
—Kate Wong, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for colonize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colonize
Verb
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The space station is currently inhabited by the three Shenzhou 20 astronauts, Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie.—
Andrew Jones,
Space.com,
30 Oct. 2025
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Come for the movies, get bumped into by the several ghosts who are said to inhabit the Art Deco movie house that was built in 1937.—
Keith Sharon,
Nashville Tennessean,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Each of the first three hours that premiered Tuesday combine a case of the week — populated by impressively recognizable faces like Judith Light, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Jessica Simpson and Rick Springfield — with ongoing concerns about the main characters’ love lives.—
Angie Han,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Nov. 2025
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For instance, the Bangladesh delta, one of the most fertile and densely populated areas in the world, is already experiencing problems, including salinity intrusion, rising sea levels and the loss of arable land.—
Pintu Kumar Mahla,
The Conversation,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Throughout Humphreys County and Hickman County, peopled gathered with their churches for support and comfort in the days after the tragedy.—
Beth Warren,
Nashville Tennessean,
12 Oct. 2025
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The Master is the greatest of them all, a movie peopled by characters who are at once intensely human and also the stuff of otherworldly fables.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Colonize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colonize. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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