colonizers

noun

plural of colonizer
as in settlers
a person who settles in a new region the first colonizers of Easter Island must have faced untold challenges

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of colonizers The country remains shaped by its historic slave uprising against French colonizers, becoming the world’s first free Black republic in 1804. — Elisa Turner, Miami Herald, 29 Oct. 2026 References to the Quit India movement against the country’s erstwhile British colonizers and the protests around the Emergency have become commonplace. — Asim Ali, Time, 24 Oct. 2026 Following the apple’s arrival with European colonizers, however, some apple maggot populations shifted to the new host plant. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Sep. 2026 The state also has a Mediterranean climate where invasive grasses, originally imported by European colonizers and their farm animals, flourish madly after winter rains and then die back during rainless summers. — Ingfei Chen, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2026 This kite, like all Palestinians, suddenly became an existential threat to the colonizers. — Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026 The Guarani, which now number roughly 85,000 in Brazil, were among the Indigenous peoples first encountered by Portuguese colonizers in the 1500s. — Marina Dias, Washington Post, 2 Sep. 2026 Built in 1610 by Spanish and Indigenous laborers, the church was destroyed in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt that drove Spanish colonizers out of the region for 12 years. — Dan Fellner, AZCentral.com, 23 Aug. 2026 Smallpox began decimating Indigenous populations shortly after European colonizers arrived in the Americas during the late 15th century. — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 30 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colonizers
  1. settlers
  2. pioneers
  3. colonists
Noun
  • For instance, these centrists would sanction violent settlers, as the Biden administration did, but may not target the banks that finance the construction of new settlements.
    — THOMAS WRIGHT, Foreign Affairs, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Wolves, on the other hand, had a thriving population after European settlers moved into the area in the 1600s but then seemed to disappear 250 years ago.
    — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of settlers
Noun
  • Business-wise, these pioneers were buoyed by the sluggish response to the internet by legacy newspapers and magazines, whose fortress mentality only accelerated their disruption.
    — Dade Hayes, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2026
  • This first crew were pioneers, showing how humans could actually live and work aboard this station.
    — Hanneke Weitering, Space.com, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of pioneers
Noun
  • Born from the international slave trade during the 18th century, the hybrid language primarily blended the French spoken by colonists and slavers with multiple West African dialects, particularly from the Senegambian region.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 3 Nov. 2026
  • The original model for the kind of adversarial speech the First Amendment aims to protect, McGrane said, was the speech American colonists used against the British.
    — Sarah Cutler, Idaho Statesman, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of colonists

Browse Nearby Words

colonizer
colonizers
colonizes
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Cite this Entry

“Colonizers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colonizers. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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