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
The original collection of short stories was published in 1950 and centered on Earth colonizing the Red Planet in a series of devastating expeditions, and its interactions with the world's psychic native inhabitants.
—
Jeff Spry, Space.com, 24 Aug. 2025
The idea that humans could one day populate and even colonize Mars is one no longer confined to the realm of science fiction.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2025
Calculating the costs of colonizing other planets remains elusive.
—James Cramer, Baltimore Sun, 20 Aug. 2025
The mine sits just north of the Duck Valley Reservation on the Sho-Pai’s homelands, an area their ancestors were forcibly removed from over a century ago when Europeans colonized the West and corralled them into the remote reservation with little resources on the Idaho-Nevada border.
—Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for colonize
Jeff Spry, Space.com, 24 Aug. 2025
The idea that humans could one day populate and even colonize Mars is one no longer confined to the realm of science fiction.
—Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 22 Aug. 2025
Calculating the costs of colonizing other planets remains elusive.
—James Cramer, Baltimore Sun, 20 Aug. 2025
The mine sits just north of the Duck Valley Reservation on the Sho-Pai’s homelands, an area their ancestors were forcibly removed from over a century ago when Europeans colonized the West and corralled them into the remote reservation with little resources on the Idaho-Nevada border.
—Angela Palermo, Idaho Statesman, 19 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for colonize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colonize
Verb
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The project alternates between details of everyday life—imbued with a surreal, universal quality—and delicate, melancholic landscapes alongside portraits of figures suspended in time, inhabiting their own oneiric world.—
Caterina De Biasio,
Vogue,
24 Sep. 2025
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The team that inhabits it is often called inevitable — immune to pressure and impossible to put away.—
Chandler Rome,
New York Times,
21 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Our final top 10 is populated with Stanley Cup champions, Hart Trophy winners and Olympians.—
Murat Ates,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
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While the rest of the film is populated with stars, including not only DiCaprio but Teyana Taylor, Sean Penn, Regina Hall, and Benicio del Toro, Infiniti, a newcomer to film, shoulders the brunt of the film’s emotional arc.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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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
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Diamandis’s network, known to its constituents as the Peterverse, is largely peopled by slim, graying, well-off men who finger their Oura rings like horcruxes.—
Tad Friend,
New Yorker,
4 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Colonize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colonize. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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