Meaning & use
colonizing
Establishing control over a foreign territory or region and settling it with people from the controlling country.
See it in a sentence
European powers spent centuries colonizing large parts of Africa and Asia.
The lichen was slowly colonizing the surface of the bare rock.
A note on using this word
In biology, "colonizing" can also describe organisms establishing themselves in a new environment, without any political sense.
Words with a similar meaning
settlingoccupying
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
liberatingdecolonizing
Make it your own
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