colonizer

noun

col·​o·​niz·​er ˈkä-lə-ˌnī-zər 

variants also British coloniser

plural colonizers

: one that colonizes : an individual or entity that establishes a colony or colonies: such as

a

: a nation or state that takes control of a people or area as an extension of state power

the country's relationship with its former colonizer

b

see usage paragraph below : a person who migrates to and settles in a foreign area as part of a colony

Almost all early explorers and colonizers marveled at the natural abundance they found in the Americas, a biodiversity at odds with the deforestation and extinctions that the Europeans had already wrought in most of their own continent.

—Alan Taylor

Lemur was the Roman name for the spirits of the dead. … The lemurs of Madagascar, an island of southeastern Africa, were named by French colonizers.

—International Wildlife

c(1)

biology : an organism that establishes a population in a new area or habitat

… debate among scientists trying to determine how tube worms, clams and other colonizers of hydrothermal vents and cold seeps arrive and persist in their ephemeral habitats.

—Julie Zeidner Russo

Seaweeds tend to be the first colonizers on shorelines …

—Mark Carwardine

(2)

medical : a microorganism that multiplies in or on a host or an inanimate object or surface

Identification of the typical flora in the postoperative ethmoid sinus cavity, as well as a determination of the type of bacteria expected to be colonizers rather than pathogens, would also assist the physician in selecting an appropriate antibiotic.

—Neil Bhattacharyya and Harsha V. Gopal

Unnoticed biofilm colonizers are present in ventilator connectors and humidifiers, which may not be removed by routine methods.

—Bipassa Chakraborty et al.

Usage of Colonist and Colonizer

Colonist and colonizer both have meanings closely tied to the word colonialism in its use referring to domination of a foreign people or area. Colonist, which comes directly from the noun colony, is the more common—and usually more neutral—term. Colonizer, which comes from the verb colonize, is used especially in contexts in which the exploitative nature of colonialism is being discussed or evoked; in phrases like "colonizer mindset/mentality" it implies a benefit from or even active participation in that exploitation.

Synonyms

• settler
• pioneer
• colonist
• colonial

Examples of colonizer in a Sentence

the first colonizers of Easter Island must have faced untold challenges

Recent Examples on the Web

English, French, Spanish; the languages of European colonizers around the world became no more or less important than the hundreds of languages spoken by people native to Africa and the Americas. —Andre Mouchard, Oc Register, 28 May 2025

But its British and Egyptian colonizers left behind a volatile mixture of ethnicities and resentments—and virtually unpoliceable desert borders. —Nicolas Niarchos, New Yorker, 19 May 2025

And the metaphor of a vampire as a colonizer—that’s real too. —Essence, 1 May 2025

Assimilation, whether forced or chosen, was never fully achieved in the eyes of colonizers or slaveholders, because there was always a trace of African heritage or, in more recent times, urban cultural identity, woven in to subvert and complicate the idea of complete assimilation. —Tiana Randall, Forbes.com, 30 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1723, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for colonizer

• advertiser
• analyser
• analyzer
• appetizer
• atomizer
• breathalyzer
• crystallizer
• digitizer
• equalizer
• fertilizer
• localizer
• merchandiser