colonization
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the act of a powerful country taking control of another area and sending its own people to live there.
the process by which a central system of power dominates the surrounding land and its components, typically involving the settlement of a population from the colonising power.
Simple“The colonization of the Americas changed the history of the world forever.”
In context“Historians continue to debate the long-term economic and social impacts of European colonization on indigenous populations across the African continent.”
UsageOften used as an uncountable noun when discussing the general historical process.
SynonymsAntonymsdecolonizationindependence - 02 C1 Advanced
the way plants, animals, or bacteria spread to a new place and start living there.
the process in biology by which a species spreads to new areas, often referring to the initial population of a previously unoccupied habitat.
Simple“The colonization of the new volcanic island by plants happened very quickly.”
In context“The rapid colonization of the gut by beneficial bacteria is essential for the development of a healthy immune system in newborns.”
UsageCommonly used in ecology and microbiology to describe the establishment of a species in a new niche.
SynonymsAntonyms
“Etowah was a major center of the Mississippian culture, which flourished in the southeastern US in the centuries before colonization.”
“The researchers documented not the collapse of thinking but something subtler and more revealing: the slow colonisation of thought by hunger.”
From colonize + -ation.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.