Translate colonize | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of colonize
verb
[with object] (of a country or its citizens) send a group of settlers to (a place) and establish political control over it:the Greeks colonized Sicily and southern Italy come to settle among and establish political control over (the indigenous people of an area):a white family that tries to colonize a Caribbean island appropriate (a place or domain) for one’s own use. Ecology (of a plant or animal) establish itself in an area:mussels can colonize even the most inhospitable rock surfaces [no object]:insect borers colonize in rotted shoreline deadfalls
