colonizer
noun
Alan TaylorInternational WildlifeJulie Zeidner RussoMark CarwardineNeil Bhattacharyya and Harsha V. GopalBipassa 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
Examples of colonizer in a Sentence
Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 11 Apr. 2024
Marlene Daut, a Yale University professor of French and African diaspora studies, said that American and European powers began spreading baseless tales of cannibalism in Haiti around the time the country’s slaves overthrew French colonizers and declared independence in 1804.
—David Ingram, NBC News, 13 Mar. 2024
And for all the years of early death and suffering — from the time of settler colonialism and the colonizers came over to grab land, to commit genocide amongst and towards the Indigenous people, and the capture of Africans brought here to be enslaved — all of it is too late.
—Deborah Balthazar, STAT, 1 Mar. 2024
For him, the world divided neatly into two groups, the colonized and the colonizer.
—Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2024
But in the 19th century, British colonizers brought in their iteration of fast fashion, and the tradition nearly went extinct until its revival some five decades ago.
—Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, 29 Feb. 2024
This region reached its peak in the 16th century during the discoveries of silver and gold mines which explains the presence of colonizers in this area.
—Shivani Vora, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
In 18th-century Trinidad, enslaved Africans who were not allowed to participate in the pre-Lenten traditions of masquerade balls by European colonizers created their own celebrations of defiance.
—Kristin Braswell, Travel + Leisure, 10 Feb. 2024
The Spanish colonizers eventually took Mexico’s vanilla to Europe, where it was consumed by the aristocracy and fed a growing craving for hot chocolate.
—Leila Miller, Los Angeles Times, 5 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'colonizer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near colonizer
Cite this Entry
“Colonizer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonizer. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
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