colony.
A geographical area under the remote control of a country; especially to extract resources or exploit labor from that area.
Meaning & usage
A geographical area under the remote control of a country; especially to extract resources or exploit labor from that area.
Much of the eastern United States was formerly a British colony; other areas were French, Spanish, Dutch, or Swedish colonies.
Bermuda is a crown colony of Great Britain.
A group of people who settle an area and maintain ties to their country of origin.
a colony of British expats in Spain
The Amana Colonies in Iowa were settled by people from Germany.
A group of people with similar interests, occupations, or characteristics, living in a particular area; the area such people occupy.
a nudist colony; the statue was put up right in the middle of the artist colony
a leper colony on the outskirts of town; most buildings in the penal colony were made of concrete
A group of organisms of same or different species living together in close association.
ant colony; coral colony
a colony of specialized polyps and medusoids
An apartment complex or neighborhood.
Our colony is quite small, but each apartment is large.
A local group of Beaver Scouts.
A potential new chapter of a fraternity or sorority awaiting official recognition from their headquarters.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁eti Proto-Italic *kʷelō Latin colō Latin colōnus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin colōniader. Middle English colane English colony From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.
To colonize.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *kʷélh₁eti Proto-Italic *kʷelō Latin colō Latin colōnus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin colōniader. Middle English colane English colony From Middle English colane, colonye, from Latin colōnia (“colony”), from colōnus (“farmer; colonist”), from colō (“till, cultivate, worship”), from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Doublet of Cologne, Colonia, and Köln.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.