as in settlers
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 colonizers
Most of the microbes found were environmental or post-mortem colonizers.
—
Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2025
Gone are the days when sugar cane plantations blanketed much of the island of Puerto Rico, the port of San Juan sending sweeteners and spirits around the globe to the enrichment of its colonizers.
—Carley Rojas Ávila, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
In the late 19th century, contact with British colonizers wiped out eight groups of indigenous peoples collectively called the Great Andamanese in the Andaman Islands, north of the Nicobar.
—M. Rajshekhar, Time, 11 Sep. 2025
The poem presents the Trojans, and the future Romans of Virgil’s own time, as both the underdogs and the oppressors, both the migrants and the colonizers, both the wretched refugees and the imperial overlords.
—Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
That’s largely because, in recent centuries, waves of colonizers globally discouraged or even outlawed the teaching and learning of Indigenous languages — eradication that researchers and technologists like Boyer, as well as organizations like UNESCO, are now working to undo.
—Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
The Sámi and Shawnee often viewed their relationship with the outside powers differently from how the colonizers saw things.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 30 Aug. 2025
Puerto Rico served as an entry point to the Americas for Spanish colonizers, who, as early as the 16th century, profited off sugarcane and tobacco grown there.
—Rebecca L. Rhoades, Saveur, 20 Aug. 2025
Recently it was renamed the Battle of Fort Dearborn, acknowledging that both sides committed atrocities in the centuries-long struggle between Native Americans and European colonizers for control of what became the United States.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2025
Gone are the days when sugar cane plantations blanketed much of the island of Puerto Rico, the port of San Juan sending sweeteners and spirits around the globe to the enrichment of its colonizers.
—Carley Rojas Ávila, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
In the late 19th century, contact with British colonizers wiped out eight groups of indigenous peoples collectively called the Great Andamanese in the Andaman Islands, north of the Nicobar.
—M. Rajshekhar, Time, 11 Sep. 2025
The poem presents the Trojans, and the future Romans of Virgil’s own time, as both the underdogs and the oppressors, both the migrants and the colonizers, both the wretched refugees and the imperial overlords.
—Literary Hub, 3 Sep. 2025
That’s largely because, in recent centuries, waves of colonizers globally discouraged or even outlawed the teaching and learning of Indigenous languages — eradication that researchers and technologists like Boyer, as well as organizations like UNESCO, are now working to undo.
—Clare Duffy, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
The Sámi and Shawnee often viewed their relationship with the outside powers differently from how the colonizers saw things.
—Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 30 Aug. 2025
Puerto Rico served as an entry point to the Americas for Spanish colonizers, who, as early as the 16th century, profited off sugarcane and tobacco grown there.
—Rebecca L. Rhoades, Saveur, 20 Aug. 2025
Recently it was renamed the Battle of Fort Dearborn, acknowledging that both sides committed atrocities in the centuries-long struggle between Native Americans and European colonizers for control of what became the United States.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colonizers
Noun
-
But the real story is the people, the pioneers who had an idea, and the settlers who turned it into a legacy.—
Malana VanTyler,
USA Today,
3 Oct. 2025
-
Ringneck pheasants were established 20 years later, and most of the new settlers became pheasant hunters rather than grouse hunters.—
Worth Matthewson,
Outdoor Life,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The leaders and companies that accomplish this will remember 2025-2030 not for jobs lost, but for becoming pioneers of the age of human-AI partnerships, reshaping entire industries.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
28 Sep. 2025
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On the other hand, human pioneers utilizing AI can initiate the process of relocating mining and industry off the planet, and, working together, enable us to expand the domain of life.—
Rick Tumlinson,
Space.com,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Pairing apple pie and cheddar cheese is an American tradition that began with English colonists and persists today in the Northeast and Midwest.—
Staff Author,
Better Homes & Gardens,
28 Sep. 2025
-
European colonists in America killed beavers primarily for their furs and for their scent glands, which were (and are) used in perfumes.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Colonizers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colonizers. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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