as in settler
a person who settles in a new region
the first colonizers of Easter Island must have faced untold challenges
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Recent Examples of colonizer
Norway was itself a colonizer, and programs oppressing indigenous cultures and languages were in place well into the 1960s.
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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.
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Katie Thornton,
Harpers Magazine,
26 May 2026
Stressing the omnipresent influence of the Portuguese colonizers, chorizo cooks with red kidney beans and black-eyed peas in a spunky chile-vinegar tomato sauce in a Goan adaptation of Brazilian feijoada.
—
Scott Hocker,
TheWeek,
11 May 2026
Irish was cherished as part of the new state’s heritage, and as a marker of distinction from its former colonizer.
—
Big Think,
4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for colonizer
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
Stressing the omnipresent influence of the Portuguese colonizers, chorizo cooks with red kidney beans and black-eyed peas in a spunky chile-vinegar tomato sauce in a Goan adaptation of Brazilian feijoada.
—
Scott Hocker,
TheWeek,
11 May 2026
Irish was cherished as part of the new state’s heritage, and as a marker of distinction from its former colonizer.
—
Big Think,
4 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for colonizer
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colonizer
Noun
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Goldman has consistently criticized Israel's government and condemned settler violence but has stopped short of describing the conflict as a genocide, which Lander has done.
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Goldman has consistently criticized Israel’s government and condemned settler violence but has stopped short of describing the conflict as a genocide, which Lander has done.
Noun
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The Berliners are well known in the business world through Amy’s Kitchen, the organic-food pioneer that helped bring natural and vegetarian frozen meals into mainstream grocery aisles.
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German physicist Max Planck was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century, earning the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of quanta.
Noun
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The sultan learned about the American colonists’ war for independence indirectly, through the local French consul and European reports.
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Those groups, and more recent successors, drew on strains of conspiracy theory-minded thinking that go back to the American Revolution, when many colonists believed that a corrupt British elite was plotting to strip them of their traditional liberties.
Noun
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Burbank’s environmental determinism was tangled with a settler-colonial impulse to imbue the wild landscape with Western ideals of control and organization to not only manage but also improve populations, in both plants and humans.
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Then this private driveway passes fruit trees, a vineyard, and mature plantings, before finally reaching the impressive colonial that is at the heart of this nearly four-acre country estate at 46 Andrews Road in Wolcott.
Cite this Entry
“Colonizer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colonizer. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.
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