as in settlers
a person who settles in a new region
the first colonizers of Easter Island must have faced untold challenges
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Recent Examples of colonizers
Co-founder and tour guide Hannah Michelle Brower says the tour will be a historical journey exploring passenger pigeons and the Lenape people, as well as looking at how the arrival of European colonizers accelerated commercial exploitation and ultimately contributed to the extinction of the bird.
—
Terra Sullivan,
CBS News,
29 June 2026
Dark visions and secrets quickly come to light, as Mārama grapples with her heritage in the shadow of colonizers.
—
William Earl,
Variety,
26 June 2026
European colonizers in lands that became the United States did link church and state.
—
Peter C. Mancall,
The Conversation,
24 June 2026
Later, colonizers cut down the trees to plant pineapple and sugarcane; the land dried out and became vulnerable to fire.
—
Julie Orringer,
Travel + Leisure,
9 June 2026
In the past, thousands of the indigenous Great Andamanese people living in the region died after contact with British colonizers led to an epidemic of measles and syphilis.
—
Omkar Khandekar,
NPR,
7 June 2026
The language first reached the continent in the early twentieth century and gained popularity during the postcolonial era as a politically neutral replacement for the still-persistent languages of European colonizers.
—
Katie Thornton,
Harpers Magazine,
26 May 2026
Stressing the omnipresent influence of the Portuguese colonizers, chorizo cooks with red kidney beans and black-eyed peas in a spunky chile-vinegar tomato sauce in a Goan adaptation of Brazilian feijoada.
—
Scott Hocker,
TheWeek,
11 May 2026
To early European colonizers, sassafras appeared to be a medical miracle.
—
Kari Traylor,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Apr. 2026
Terra Sullivan,
CBS News,
29 June 2026
Dark visions and secrets quickly come to light, as Mārama grapples with her heritage in the shadow of colonizers.
—
William Earl,
Variety,
26 June 2026
European colonizers in lands that became the United States did link church and state.
—
Peter C. Mancall,
The Conversation,
24 June 2026
Later, colonizers cut down the trees to plant pineapple and sugarcane; the land dried out and became vulnerable to fire.
—
Julie Orringer,
Travel + Leisure,
9 June 2026
In the past, thousands of the indigenous Great Andamanese people living in the region died after contact with British colonizers led to an epidemic of measles and syphilis.
—
Omkar Khandekar,
NPR,
7 June 2026
The language first reached the continent in the early twentieth century and gained popularity during the postcolonial era as a politically neutral replacement for the still-persistent languages of European colonizers.
—
Katie Thornton,
Harpers Magazine,
26 May 2026
Stressing the omnipresent influence of the Portuguese colonizers, chorizo cooks with red kidney beans and black-eyed peas in a spunky chile-vinegar tomato sauce in a Goan adaptation of Brazilian feijoada.
—
Scott Hocker,
TheWeek,
11 May 2026
To early European colonizers, sassafras appeared to be a medical miracle.
—
Kari Traylor,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for colonizers
Noun
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Some became stockmen, learning to ride settlers’ horses and using their deep knowledge of the land to muster cattle on horseback across vast landscapes.
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The history in Kaskaskia is as rich as the soil that attracted settlers in the first place and made it, for a time, Illinois’ most important place.
Noun
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But it was then followed up by a Spanish hymn, sung by musicians, dressed in 18th-century Spanish Colonial attire, including the garb of soldado, vaquero, pioneers, military, and indigenous peoples.
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As of January 2026, that federal evaluation included 17 UTM service providers and operators, a sign the framework is moving from two pioneers to an industry-wide layer.
Noun
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These were moments of extraordinary dissent against the British government by American colonists.
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The American colonists were friends with affliction and shared their suffering socially, in writing and conversation.
Cite this Entry
“Colonizers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/colonizers. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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