colony

UK/ˈkɒl.ə.ni/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈkɔlənɪj/

colony noun: a geographical area under the remote control of a country; especially to extract resources or exploit labor from that area.

Image: original version by Declan Graham, revised by Lucy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

colony (plural colonies)

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
(India) 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.
- That weekend in 2013, fraternity members from Baruch, a commuter school in Manhattan whose Pi Delta Psi colony was only about three years old, gathered in a large rental house in Tunkhannock Township, Pa. Early on a frigid morning, Mr. Deng followed the other pledges in putting on a blindfold and...2018 January 7, Rick Rojas, “A Partial Win for Prosecutors Who Targeted Fraternity After Student’s Death”, in New York Times

Verb

colony (third-person singular simple present colonies, present participle colonying, simple past and past participle colonied)

(obsolete, rare, transitive) To colonize.
- Such black Attendants Colonied thy Cell, / But for thy Preſence, Car’sbrook had been Hell.1649, [John Cleveland], “A Deep Groan, Fetch’d at the Funerall of That Incomparable and Glorious Monarch, […]”, in Monumentum Regale or A Tombe, Erected for That Incomparable and Glorious Monarch...
- The noble Island (which was colonied [translating habitavam] / Sometime by Tyrians) was not wanting here, / Who, on their Banners in thoſe days of yore / The famous Pillars of Alcides bore.1655, Luis de Camoens, translated by Richard Fanshaw, “Fourth Canto”, in The Lusiad, or, Portugals Historicall Poem: […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […], stanza 9, page 76

Proper noun capitalized: Colony

Colony

A town in Cullman County, Arkansas.
A township in Adams County, Iowa.
A township in Delaware County, Iowa.
A minor city in Anderson County, Kansas.
A former township in Greeley County, Kansas.
A neighbourhood in south-west Lexington, Kentucky.
An unincorporated community and inactive township in Knox County, Missouri.
A town in Washita County, Oklahoma.

colony meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

colony in Hindi

group of organisms: कोलोनी kolonī
region or governmental unit: कॉलोनी kŏlonī, उपनिवेश upniveś

colony in Tamil

குடியேற்ற நாடு, பல வீடுகளின் குடியிருப்புத் தொகுப்பு, குடியிருப்பு, குடிவெளி, வீட்டுவெளி

colony in Urdu

group of organisms: کالونی kālonī
region or governmental unit: نَوآبادی nau'ābādī, کالونی kālonī, مُسْتَعْمَرَہ musta'mara

colony in Bengali

region or governmental unit: উপনিবেশ uponibeś

More languagesFewer languages

colony in Telugu: వలసదేశము valasadēśamu
colony in Malayalam: അധിനിവേശപ്രദേശം, കുടിയേറിപ്പാർക്കുന്ന സ്ഥലം, അധിനിവേശസ്ഥലം, കുടിയേറ്റക്കാർ
colony in Kannada: ವಸಾಹತು, ಕಾಲೊನಿ, ನೆಲಸೆ, ವಲಸೆನಗರ
colony in Punjabi: ਉਪਨਿਵੇਸ਼ upaniveś
colony in Sinhala: ජනපදය janapadaya
colony in Assamese: চহৰাঞ্চল sohorañsol
colony in Pashto: مستعمره mosta'mera
colony in Tagalog: sakupbayan, kolonya
colony in Arabic: مُسْتَعْمَرَة mustaʕmara, مُسْتَمْلَكَة mustamlaka
colony in Malay: jajahan, koloni
colony in Indonesian: koloni
colony in Thai: อาณานิคม aa-naa-ní-kom, ประเทศราช bprà-têet-sà-râat, เมืองขึ้น mʉʉang-kʉ̂n
colony in Vietnamese: tập đoàn, thuộc địa
colony in Myanmar: ကိုလိုနီ kuiluini

Examples of colony in a sentence

The question of ecclesiastical jurisdiction had to be answered before the colony sailed for East Florida.2006, Kenneth H. Beeson Jr., Fromajadas and Indigo: The Minorcan Colony in Florida, Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN:
In the small hours came the fetid smell of a flying-fox colony.1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 64:

All 40 example sentences with colony

Forms of colony

Noun
plural	colonies
Verb
third-person singular present	colonies
present participle	colonying
past participle	colonied
past	colonied

Plural of colony: colonies

Origin of 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.

Phrases with colony

Questions about colony

What does colony mean?: Colony means a geographical area under the remote control of a country; especially to extract resources or exploit labor from that area.
What is colony in Hindi?: Colony in Hindi is कोलोनी (kolonī), कॉलोनी (kŏlonī), उपनिवेश (upniveś). See Colony meaning in Hindi.
How do you use colony in a sentence?: The question of ecclesiastical jurisdiction had to be answered before the colony sailed for East Florida.
What part of speech is colony?: Colony can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce colony?: Colony is pronounced /ˈkɒl.ə.ni/ (UK).
What is the plural of colony?: The plural of colony is colonies.

Words near colony in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-colony.ogg.

Cite this entry: “colony.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/colony. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.