decolonization

Noun

decolonization (countable and uncountable, plural decolonizations)

1. The freeing of a colony etc from dependent status by granting it independence.
2. The reverse of colonization, i.e. granting back autonomy to a group.
   • In full decolonization mode, Greenlanders also have abandoned the Danish names that once gave some of us a precarious toehold on their island's geography. Nuuk, for example, appeared on children's geography board games until recently as Godthab.2001 May 20, James Brooke, “Where Icebergs Are Born”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 11 Jun 2017
   • But what does decolonisation have to do with place names? Place names are the meeting points of history and geography that shape part of our identities.2019, Nalini Mohabir, “Renaming the Cook Islands would be a vital step towards true independence”, in Guardian.

   Synonyms:

   decolonialization

3. The elimination of a colony of pathogens from the body of a patient, especially antibiotic-resistant pathogens.