decolonise
decolonise is the alternative spelling of decolonize.
Meaning of decolonize
Verb
decolonize (third-person singular simple present decolonizes, present participle decolonizing, simple past and past participle decolonized)
- To release from the status of colony; to allow a colony to become independent.
- A paternal government would attempt to decolonize American literature, by forbidding the re-publication of foreign works, and offering premiums to those of home production.1860, James Parton, Life of Andrew Jackson: In Three Volumes, page 84
- To reverse the colonization of, i.e. to grant back autonomy to a group.
- Across Ukraine, officials are starting projects to, as they say, “decolonize” their cities. Streets and subway stops whose names evoke the history of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union are under scrutiny by a population eager to rid itself of traces of the nation that invaded in late February.2022 June 7, Erika Solomon, “Goodbye, Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy: Ukrainians look to ‘decolonize’ their streets.”, in The New York Times
Forms of decolonise
| third-person singular present | decolonises |
|---|---|
| present participle | decolonising |
| past participle | decolonised |
| past | decolonised |
Origin of decolonise
From de- + colonise.
Questions about decolonise
- What is decolonise the alternative spelling of?
- Decolonise is the alternative spelling of decolonize.
Words near decolonise in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: decolonise (page history and authors); decolonize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “decolonise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decolonise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
